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BV    110    .E93    1885 
Everts,    W.    W.    1814-1890. 
The    Sabbath 


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The  Sabbath  was  made  for  MA^i.—JcsHs. 


THE    SABBATH 


ITS   PERMANENCE,  PROMISE,  AND 
DEFENCE. 

;*     DEC  27 1910      ^ 


W.  W.  EVERTS,  D.D.,  

AUTHOR  or  "pastor's  hand-book,"  "the  house  of  god,"  "through  the 

NARROWS,"  ETC. 


The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man." 

Jesus. 


NEW  YORK: 

E.  B.  TREAT,  771  BROADWAY, 

Office  of  The  Pulpit  Treasury. 

1885. 

i^PBICE,    $1.00.] 


Copyright,  1885,  by 
W.  W.  Everts. 


Green  &  Dbummond, 

Electrotijpers, 

Biidgepoi-t,  Conn. 


PROEM. 


This  book  considers  the  new,  various,  and  formid- 
able attacks  upon  the  Christian  Sabbath,  and  mar- 
shals science,  history,  and  revelation  in  its  defence. 
It  is  not  encumbered  by  citations  of  authorities,  but 
free  use  has  been  made  of  other  works  on  the  subject. 
In  attempting  a  restatement  of  the  Sabbath  argument 
of  the  centuries,  it  has  sought  not  so  much  to  make 
it  original  or  novel,  as  comprehensive,  incisive,  and 
effective.  The  great  alternative  is  a  Sabbath,  a 
Creator,  a  spiritual  world,  a  reign  of  righteousness, 
the  forgiveness  of  sin,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
and  life  everlasting  ;  or  no  Sabbath,  no  God,  no  soul, 
no  spiritual  kingdom,  no  redemption,  no  perfected 
humanity,  and  no  hope  of  heaven.  To  this  stupend- 
ous issue  the  attention  of  all  thoughtful  and  serious 
men  is  invited.  Father  Ravignan  forcibly  says:  "I 
do  not  see  that  practical  atheism  can  be  more  thor- 
oughly expressed  than  by  the  habitual  public  and 
universal  violation  of  the  Lord's  Day.  No  more  wor- 
ship, no  more  religion,  practically  no  more  God." 

W.  W.  Everts. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

LAW  OF   THE   SABBATH. 

PAGE 

I.  Instituted  in  Eden 13 

Its  divine  origin  explains  its  existence. 

The  divine  blessing  consecrates  it. 

The  divine  example  dignifies  it. 

The  divine  law  enforces  it. 
Ji*-  Man's  constitution  demands  it. 

^^The  Sabbatic  division  of  time  is  accounted  for  by  it. 
^^The  early  nations  observed  it. 

II.  Enforced  by   Moses 27 

Restoring  an  old,  not  introducing  a  itexv  law. 

Limiting  Sabbath  travel. 

Restricting  Sabbath  labor. 

Made  a  covenant  between  God  and  Israel. 

Rigor  of  enforcement. 

Condition  of  national  prosperity. 

III.  Reaffirmed  BY   Christ ••     4° 

Not  abolishing,  but  fulfilling  the  Sabbath. 

Condemning  its  abuses. 

Miracles  wrought  on  that  day. 

Pharisees  rebuked  for  fettering  its  freedom. 

IV.  Perpetuated  in  the  Lord's  Day 48 

One  day  in  seven  the  essential  Sabbath. 

The  memorial  use  not  depending  on  the  certain  day. 

Disentangled  from  meshes  of  Judaism  by  new  day. 

Apostolic  observance  of  first  day. 

Testimony  of  Fathers  to  change  of  day. 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAGU 

V.  Observed  by  the  Church 60 

Dated,  like  the  Church,  from  the  resurrection  of  Christ. 
The  day  of  Christian  assemblies. 

Sabbath    laws    of   Constantine    attest   its   general   ob- 
servance. 
Cawdrey's  theory  of  the  Lord's  Day. 
Its  general  observance  by  Christian  nations. 

VI.  Memorial  Day 68 

Monumental  history. 

Commemorative  days. 

The  Sabbath   prototype  and  antitype  of  all  memorial 

days. 
Especially  of  creation  and  redemption. 
Joseph  Mede's  view. 

Other  testimonies  to  this  use  of  the  Sabbath. 
Figure  of  this  commemoration. 

VII.  Holy   Day 75 

Cut  off  from  secular  time. 

Set  apart  for  sacred  uses  by  special  blessing. 

Consecrated  by  association  with  divine  example. 

Sanctity  enjoined  in  the  Decalogue. 

Its  sacred  observance  a  condition  of  divine  favor  to 
Israel 

The  religious  uses  of  the  Sabbath  require  its  inviola- 
bility. 

Testimony  to  the  importance  of  hallowing  the  Sab- 
bath. 


PART    IT. 


PROMISE,  OF   THE   SABBATH. 

The  Body  82 

The  crown  of  physical  manhood  lost  by  sin. 
The  Sabbath  a  hygienic  law. 
Testimonies  to  its  physical  benefits. 


CONTENTS. 


II.  The  Mind 88 

The  Sabbath  a  school  period. 

Both  physical  and  moral  rest  brighten  the  mental  facul- 
ties. 
The  Sabbath  directly  promotes  popular  education. 
Testimony  to  the  educational  influence  of  the  Sabbath.. 

III.  The  Home 94 

The  Sabbath  provides  for  family  reunions. 
The  Sabbath  provides  for  family  instruction. 
The  Sabbath  provides  for  family  discipline. 
Testimony  to  the  influence  of  the  Sabbath  on  domestic 
happiness. 

IV.  The  State loi 

The  Sabbath  enforces  the  reign  of  law — the  foundation 
of  the  state. 

The  Sabbath  inspires  the  courage  of  freedom  which  de- 
fends and  exalts  the  state. 

The  Sabbath  promotes  that  sense  of  religion  necessary 
to  conserve  the  state. 

Testimonies  to  the  civil  benefits  of  the  Sabbath. 

The  glory  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  based  upon  it. 

V.  Social  Progress 107 

The  Sabbath  inspires  sentiment  of  philanthropy. 
Examples  of  its  humanizing  influence. 
Diffuses  Christian  charities. 
Promotes  Christian  missions. 

VI.  Moral  Reform 113 

Virtue  the  product,  not  of  philosophy,  but  of  religion. 
Men  won  to  moral  sensibilities  by  Sabbath  worship. 
Estranged  from  the  Sabbath,  men  fall  away  from  virtue 
Through  Sabbath  associations  churches  become  reform 
societies. 

VII.  Religion 118 

Religious  sentiment  is  inspired  by  its  august  challenge 

of  man's  attention. 
Religious  sentiment    is  confirmed  by  the  established 

conviction  of  the  divine  authority  of  the  Sabbath. 


10  CONTENTS. 


Religious  sentiment  is  exalted  by  association  of  the 
Sabbath  with  divine  example  as  well  as  blessing. 

Religious  culture  promoted  by  Sabbath  assemblies. 

As  a  memorial  observance  the  Sabbath  inspires  relig- 
ious gratitude. 

Especially  as  commemoration  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  the  Christian  Sabbath  exalts  religion. 


PART   III. 

DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

I.  Objections  answered 128 

Not  formally  instituted. 
A  Jewish  institution. 
Did  not  exist  before  Moses. 
Not  observed  by  the  patriarchs. 
Christianity  makes  every  day  a  Sabbath. 
Paul  makes  Sabbath  observance  optional. 
A  creature  of  church  or  state. 
The  reformers  relaxed  Sabbath  observance. 
Culture  obviates  the  necessity  of  any  Sabbath. 
Sabbath  observance  is  superstitious. 
The  Sabbath  is  too  rigorous. 
Sabbath  laws  obstruct  natural  liberty 
The  Sabbath  is  self-enforcing. 
There  should  be  no  Sabbath  laws. 
Penalties  for  Sabbath-breaking  are  barbarous. 
Sabbath  laws  are  discourteous  to  foreign  nationalities. 
The  Sabbath  is  discredited  by  the  diversity  of  its  ob- 
servance. . 

II.  Sabbath  Laws i47 

Protecting  sacred  interests. 

Defending  sacred  traditions. 

Justified  by  venerable  precedent. 

Guard  the  universal  school  period  of  man. 


CONTENTS.  ir 


Support  the  greatest  bulwark  against  demoralization . . . 
Charlemagne    reduced  statutes  of  Constantine  and  of 

Leo  to  an  elaborate  Sabbath  code. 
The  principles  of  this  code  incorporated  into  the  laws 

of  modern  Europe. 
Sabbath  laws  of  the  American  Colonies. 
State  laws  concerning  the  Sabbath  . 
Enforcement  of  Sabbath  laws  in  this  country.. 
Protection  of  the  Sabbath  abroad. 

III.  Violations  of  the  Sabbath 163 

Sunday  saloons. 

Sunday  theatres. 

Sunday  games. 

Sunday  spectacles. 

Sunday  industries. 

Sunday  excursions. 

Sunday  railroads. 

Sunday  museums  and  art-galleries. 

IV.  Theories  of  the  Sabbath ig3 

Ecclesiastical  theory  of  the  Sabbath. 
Semi-ecclesiastical  theory  of  the  Sabbath. 
Evangelical  theory  of  the  Sabbath. 

V.  The  Christian  Sabbath 208 

Argument  for  seventh  day  considered. 

Reasons  for  the  first  day. 

Its  existence  a  presumption  in  favor  of  its  perpetuity. 

As  based  on  moral  law,   no  anterior  improbability  of 

change  of  time. 
Memorial  uses  of  the  Sabbath  not  interfered  with  by 

change  of  time. 
The  same  sanction  given  to  the  first  as  to  the  seventh. 
The    first    makes    the    same    provision    for    man   the 

seventh  did. 
The  first  day  adds  to  the  appeals  and  sanctions  of  the 

seventh  day. 
The  first  day  a  memorial  of  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  first  day  a  symbol  of  the  blessings  of  redemption. 


12  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

First  day  commended  by  apostolic  example. 

As  Christ  supersedes  all  other  religious  teachers  His 

day  should  supersede  all  other  holy  days 

The  first  day  is  the  only  promise  of  the  same  Sabbath 

for  all  mankind. 

VI.  Testimony  to  the  Sabbath 223 

Of  antiquity. 

Of  Jews. 

Of  Roman  Catholics. 

Of  civilians. 

Of  men  of  culture. 

Of  physicians. 

VII.  The  House  of  God  the  Bulwark  of  the  Sabbath  238 

Oracle  of  divine  knowledge. 
Stronghold  of  virtue. 
Ensign  of  peace. 
Ebenezer  of  gratitude. 
Refuge  of  sorrow. 
Symbol  of  divine  presence. 
Gate  of  heaven . 

VIII.  Appeal  on  Behalf  of  the  Sabbath 252 

Man. 

Toiler. 

Railroad  men. 

Citizen. 

Foreign-born. 

Hebrew  . 

Seventh-day  Baptist. 

Theist. 

Philanthropist. 

Christian. 


THE   SABBATH. 


PART    I. 
LAW   OF  THE   SABBATH. 


I. 

Established  in  Eden. 

"God  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sanctified  it." 

At  the  end  of  a  series  of  days  the  Sabbath  com- 
mands a  halt  in  the  march  of  life.  Leaving  six  days 
to  man's  discretion,  the  Creator  reserved  the  seventh 
for  His  special  service  and  glory,  and  the  exaltation 
of  the  human  race  in  character  and  destiny. 

He  established  this  division  of  time  as  He  did  the 
order  of  the  seasons  and  the  alternation  of  day  and 
night.  It  demands  recognition  alike  in  every  organiza- 
tion of  industry,  every  constitution  of  government, 
every  charter  of  liberty,  and  in  every  scheme  of  civil- 
ization. 

The  universality  of  the  ordinance  of  the  Sabbath 
may  appear  from  the  following  considerations  : 

I.  The  conspicuous  place  of  the  Sabbath  in  human 
history  furnishes  a  strong  presumption   that  it  is  old 


14  LAW   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

as  the  family  of  man.  No  change  in  his  nature  or 
social  development  is  traced,  demanding  its  introduc- 
tion at  a  later  age  rather  than  at  the  birth  of  the  race. 
The  reasons  for  hallowing  a  Sabbath  in  one  land  are 
equally  conclusive  for  hallowing  it  in  all  lands. 

Besides,  no  rational  account  of  the  origin  of  the 
Sabbath  has  been  given  except  that  of  Moses,  which 
makes  it  coeval  with  the  human  family,  and  part  of  that 
terrestrial  economy  which  determines  the  freedom, 
duties,  and  destinies  of  men.  As  we  hail  sun,  moon, 
and  stars  as  part  of  the  scheme  of  nature  to  which 
we  belong,  and  ministering  to  our  well-being,  so  we 
hallow  that  sacred  division  of  time  which  limits  our 
pursuits,  enforces  our  duties,  promotes  our  higher 
culture,  and  assures  our  happier  destiny.  An  institu- 
tion so  early  and  widely  observed  must  have  been 
established  in  the  nature  of  man,  and  be  binding  on 
him  universally  to  the  end  of  time. 

2.  The  divine  blessing  which  consecrated  the 
seventh  part  of  time  for  the  first  generation  must 
have  consecrated  it  equally  for  all  generations.  That 
resplendent  benediction — "God  blessed  the  seventh 
day,  and  sanctified  it  " — lighted  up  Eden  with  a 
heavenly  promise  which  has  gilded  every  later  abode 
of  man.  The  aroma  of  that  blessing  has  lingered 
through  the  ages,  and  diffused  a  fragrance  of  holiness 
over  all  lands.  As  there  was  no  period  to  the  bless- 
ing, there  is  no  end  to  the  Sabbath  it  consecrated.  So 
long  as  God's  blessing  is  sought  on  earth  the  Sabbath 
will  be  hallowed. 

3.  Association  of  the  Sabbath  with  divine  example 


ESTABLISHED    IN   EDEN.  1 5 

in  creation  must  have  been  intended  to  hallow  the 
day  for  all  mankind  alike,  to  the  end  of  time.  It 
bases  the  ordinance  upon  the  likeness  of  the  creature 
to  the  Creator  in  the  mode  of  his  activities,  as  well 
as  in  his  intelligence,  freedom,  and  moral  sense. 
Regardless  of  the  length  of  the  periods  or  days  of 
creation,  and  even  independently  of  the  exact  num- 
ber of  those  days  or  periods,  the  analogy  would  con- 
stitute a  sufficient  basis  for  a  symbolic  illustration  of 
the  obligations  of  the  Sabbath.  In  the  Apocalypse  of 
the  New  Testament,  the  Prophets  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  in  all  oriental  systems  of  morals  and  re- 
ligion the  prevalence  of  symbolic  teaching  may  be 
traced.  It  seems  natural  and  inevitable  that  this 
method  of  teaching  a  universal  and  important  law 
should  have  been  adopted.  It  seems  difficult  to  con- 
ceive any  other  symbol  so  simple,  available,  and  im- 
pressive as  that  which  compares  man's  periodic  rest 
with  the  repose  of  the  Creator  at  the  close  of  the 
epochs  of  creation.  As  Jehovah  hallowed  the  close 
of  the  periods  of  creation  by  pausing  in  complaisant 
review  of  His  works,  so  He  required  man,  at  the  end 
of  a  week  of  toil,  to  pause,  review  his  works,  trace 
their  conformity  to  or  divergence  from  the  works  and 
will  of  the  great  Creator,  and  thus  learn  more  ade- 
quately his  own  duty  and  destiny,  and  celebrate  more 
worthily  the  wisdom  and  glory  of  God.  Now,  this 
periodical  and  devout  review  of  life  and  its  relation 
to  the  scheme  of  nature  becomes  an  homage  to  the 
Supreme  Being,  and  is  as  binding  upon  one  age  as 
upon  another.     The  association  of  the  Sabbath  with 


1 6  LAW   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

the  example  of  the  Creator  appeals  as  impressively 
to  the  latest  as  it  did  to  the  first  generation  of  men, 
and  proves  the  universality  and  perpetuity  of  the  in- 
stitution. The  order  of  Nature,  in  its  invariable  suc- 
cession of  day  and  night,  is  made  the  majestic  moni- 
tor to  the  universal  observance  of  this  primitive 
divine  ordinance.  As  the  morning  star  heralds  the 
day,  so  the  seventh  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its  axis 
ushers  in  for  the  world  a  period  of  rest  and  worship. 

4.  The  Law  proclaimed  from  Sinai  recognized  the 
primitive  order  and  universal  obligation  of  the  Sab- 
bath. "  Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy  " 
enjoined  no  new  institution,  but  the  restoration  and 
exaltation  of  one  long  neglected  or  imperfectly  ob- 
served. It  was  no  more  a  divine  order  to  Israel  than 
to  the  patriarchs  before  them  and  to  the  races  who 
followed  them.  It  will  never  cease  to  be  binding  till 
revoked  by  the  sovereignty  which  established  it. 

Wherever  God  is  obeyed,  the  Sabbath  will  be  ob- 
served. So  long  as  Jehovah  is  reverenced,  the  seventh 
part  of  time  will  be  hallowed  for  His  worship. 

5.  The  necessity  of  periodic  and  religious  rest 
traced  in  the  constitution  of  man  shows  that  the  Sab- 
bath was  given  as  a  permanent  institution,  and  not  as 
a  mere  temporary  or  local  ordinance. 

Civilization  can  no  more  dispense  with  it  than  with 
other  laws  of  Nature.  The  greater  intensity  of  mod- 
ern life  more  imperatively  demands  the  quiet  and  re- 
pose of  the  Sabbath.  The  suppression  or  partial  ob- 
servance of  a  sacred  day  might  be  less  fatal  to  savage 
than  to  civilized  races.     A  chronometer  never  wound 


ESTABLISHED    IN   EDEN.  1 7 

up  would  soon  run  down.  Irregularly  wound  up,  it 
might  soon  confuse  all  regulations  of  time  and  all 
appointments  of  life.  So  without  periodic  rest,  and 
recuperation  of  the  Sabbath,  man's  activities  would 
become  feeble,  if  not  uncertain  and  destructive. 

6.  The  universality  of  the  Sabbath  is  confirmed  by 
sabbatic  divisions  of  time  prevailing  from  the  earliest 
ages.  The  Persians  and  Indians  (says  Bohlen)  and 
the  ancient  Germans  (says  Grimm)  regarded  the 
number  seven  as  sacred.  Most  conspicuously  among 
the  Jews  seven  was  held  as  a  sacred  or  perfect  num- 
ber. Noah  waited  seven  days  before  sending  out 
the  dove,  and  again  seven  days  before  leaving  the 
Ark. 

Job's  friends  watched  with  him  seven  days  and 
nights  before  opening  their  mouths  in  words  of  coun- 
sel. Jacob  served  for  the  daughters  of  Laban  twice 
seven  years.  His  sons  observed  this  sabbatic  period 
of  mourning  for  theii-  father,  and  again  for  their 
brother.  The  Jews  observed  a  week  of  days,  a  week 
of  weeks,  a  week  of  months,  and  a  week  of  years. 
Seven  weeks  were  reckoned  from  Passover  to  Pente- 
cost, and  at  the  feast  seven  lambs  were  offered  each 
day.  The  Feasts  of  Tabernacles  and  Atonement  fell 
on  the  seventh  month.  Seven  days  were  devoted  to 
purification,  seven  for  consecrating  a  priest,  seven  for 
lamenting  the  dead,  seven  for  celebrating  marriage. 

There  is  no  explanation  of  this  reverence  for  the 
seventh  day  except  as  associated  in  one  of  two  ways 
with  the  origin  and  observance  of  the  Sabbath.  The 
proportion   of  seven  may  have  been  so  wrought  into 

2 


l8  LAW   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

the  constitution  of  nature  and  of  man,  that  a  process 
of  development  established  the  sabbatic  rest,  as  other 
institutions  have  been  established,  and  sabbatic  divi- 
sions of  time  naturally  followed.  As  supporting  this 
idea  of  the  possible  development  of  tlie  Sabbath,  P}^- 
thagoras  made  the  number  and  proportion  seven  the 
principal  factor  of  his  scheme  of  philosoph3^  There 
are  seven  mechanical  forces.  Seven  notes  compose 
the  musical  scale,  and  seven  colors  the  prismatic 
scale.  A  recent  experiment  of  rapidly-turning  wheels 
has  been  reported,  and  it  was  declared  that  at  their 
greatest  velocity  the  notes  of  the  musical  and  the 
colors  of  the  prismatic  scale  were  clearly  distin- 
guished at  the  same  time.  The  seventh,  fourteentli. 
twenty-first,  and  twenty-eighth  days  are  said  to  mark 
important  crises  in  disease,  and  in  seven  years  the 
human  body  is  rebuilt.  The  seventh  wave,  washing 
the  shores  of  continents,  is  said  to  move  with  the 
greatest  volume  and  force  ?  If  there  be  any  such  pro- 
portion in  the  order  of  nature  and  the  constitution  of 
man  as  the  Greek  philosopher  supposed,  and  these 
phenomena  imply,  it  might  by  the  mere  force  of  evo- 
lution have  early  established  the  Sabbath,  and  all 
sabbatic  divisions  of  time.  Without  formal  institu- 
tion man's  common  wants  might  have  led  to  common 
observance;  common  observance,  to  the  uniformity 
of  custom  ;  the  uniformity  of  custom,  to  the  sacredness 
of  tradition  ;  the  sacredness  of  tradition,  to  the  sanc- 
tions of  constitutional  law.  Thus  by  the  discovery  of 
natural  theology  the  Sabbath  might  have  become 
the  foundation  of  social  order  and  the  universal  duty 


ESTABLISHED    IN    EDEN.  I9 

of  man,  binding  the  conscience  of  every  age  and  land, 
and  thus  promoting  the  observance  of  sabbatic  divi- 
sions of  time. 

But  the  alternative  account  of  the  origin  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  consequently  of  sabbatic  divisions  of 
time,  given  by  Moses  is  preferred  alike  by  Jews  and 
Christians.  Not  leaving  so  important  a  law  as  that 
requiring  periodic  rest  and  worship  to  be  formulated 
by  experience,  and  to  impart  to  it  a  greater  prestige 
and  more  impressive  sanction,  Jehovah  anticipated  a 
possible  discovery  of  natural  theology  by  an  immedi- 
ate and  peremptory  order.  An  order  so  command- 
ing, and  so  conspicuously  attested,  naturally  im- 
pressed the  race  in  its  infancy,  and  followed  them, 
with  its  traditions  and  sanctions,  in  their  dispersions 
over  the  earth,  enforcing  the  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath, and  with  Sabbath  observance  sabbatic  divisions 
of  time.  Whether,  therefore,  established  by  natural 
theology  or  by  divine  revelation,  the  Sabbath,  by 
its  implication  with  sabbatic  divisions  of  time,  is 
proved  to  be  a  primitive,  universal,  and  divine  law. 

7.  The  universality  of  the  Sabbath  is  further  con- 
firmed by  its  observance  from  the  birth  of  the  race. 
Fu-He,  a  Chinese  chronicler,  says,  "  Every  seven  days 
comes  the  revolution."  In  the  annals  of  Suhusius, 
the  emperor  is  represented  as  offering  a  sacrifice  to 
the  supreme  being  every  seven  days.  Homer  sang, 
"The  seventh  day — sacred  day — has  brightened  the 
universe."  Purchas  declares  the  Peguans  had  a 
weekly  religious  day.  Chaldean  records  six  hundred 
years  before  Moses  gave  the   law,  two  hundred  years 


20  LAW   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

before  Abraham  left  his  native  land,  embodying  tra- 
ditions still  older,  clearly  allude  to  the  Sabbath  as 
well  as  to  the  Flood.  In  the  fifth  tablet  of  a  series  of 
these  records  is  this  expression,  as  translated  by  Tal- 
bot, a  distinguished  Assyriologist : 

"On  the  seventh  He  appointed  a  holy  day, 
And  to  cease  from  all  work  He  commanded." 

A.  H.  Sayce,  another  eminent  Assyrian  scholar,  thus 
translates  the  Sabbath  ritual,  discovered  in  an  Assy- 
rian calendar  : 

"The  seventh  day.     A  feast  of    Merodach  and  Zir-Panitu — a 
festival. 
A  Sabbath.     The  Prince  of  many  nations 
The  flesh  of  birds  and  cooked  fruits  eats  not. 
The  garments  of  his  body  he  changes  not. 
White  robes  he  puts  not  on." 

"The  king  his  offering  makes.     Sacrifices  he  offers. 
Raising  his  hand,  the  higli  place  of  God  he  worships." 

Lenormant,  another  high  authority,  declares  that 
the  Assyrians  recognized  the  Sabbath,  and  that  in  the 
fragment  of  a  lexicon  v^as  found  this  definition  :  ''  Day 
of  the  repose  of  the  heart,  day  of  joy,"  translated 
"  Sabbatue  "—Sabbath. 

In  a  vi^ork  recently  published  Lotz  shows  that  not 
long  after  the  Flood,  in  the  land  of  Noah,  in  the  valley 
of  the  Euphrates,  the  Sabbath  law  was  scrupulously 
observed  even  by  the  king.  In  Assyrian  tables,  en- 
joining a  regime  for  the  court,  the  seventh,  fourteenth, 
twenty-first,  and  twenty-eighth  days  of  the  month  are 


ESTABLISHED   IN   EDEN.  21 

distinguished  and  guarded  in  their  sanctity  by  the 
most  rigorous  prohibitions.  To  hallow  the  seventh 
day  by  the  example  of  the  ruler,  it  is  enjoined  in  the 
public  law  specifically  :  "  The  pastor  of  the  great 
nations  must  not  eat  meat  cooked  over  the  fire,  nor 
change  his  raiment,  nor  dress  in  white,  nor  pour  out 
libations,  nor  ascend  his  chariot,  nor  speak  as  a  king. 
The  priest  must  not  open  his  mouth  in  secret,  the 
magi  must  not  stretch  out  his  hand  to  lical  the  sick, 
or  utter  a  malediction — in  the  evening  let  the  king 
present  his  gift,  and  pour  out  his  libation  to  Mero- 
dach  and  Venus.  .  .  .  The  lifting  up  of  his  hands  to 
God  will  be  well-pleasing."  There  at  the  court  of  one 
of  the  foremost  nations,  we  have  the  original  Sabbath 
law  enforced  with  almost  the  ceremonial  strictness  of 
the  Sabbath  ritual  of  Moses,  of  Scotland,  or  of  New 
England. 

But  the  testimony  of  the  Jews  to  the  antiquity  of 
the  Sabbath  is  most  explicit  and  striking.  They  rise 
above  all  nations  in  the  fulness  and  credibility  of  their 
account  of  the  creation,  and  in  their  history  of  the 
traditions  and  institutes  of  the  human  race.  No 
other  nation  has  shown  such  care  in  preserving  their 
annals.  They  incorporated  the  Sabbath  among  the 
universal  duties  of  mankind,  and  made  it  as  uni- 
versally binding  as  the  family,  and  other  precepts 
of  the  moral  law.  Whether  receiving  the  Sabbath 
from  the  Assyrians,  or  from  the  same  original  tradi- 
tions, the  Hebrews  clothe  it  with  the  authority  of 
their  sacred  writings.  No  one  can  receive  Moses  and 
the  Prophets  without  acknowledging  the  divine  ordi- 


22  LAW   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

nation  and  perpetual  obligation  of  the  Sabbath.  The 
sacred  writings  not  only  place  the  Sabbath  in  the  cat- 
egory of  universal  moral  duties,  but  also  contain  allu- 
sions to  and  examples  of  its  observance  from  the 
earliest  times.  Tlie  offerings  of  Cain  and  Abel  natu- 
rally connect  themselves  with  the  Sabbath.  They 
were  brought,  as  the  record  declares,  at  the  "  cutting 
off  of  days."  The  Sabbath  was  a  day  "cut  off"  from 
the  week  by  God's  blessing  and  example.  It  is  incon- 
ceivable that  any  other  day  of  worship  could  have 
been  so  cut  off.  The  religious  awakening  in  the  time 
of  Seth,  when  men  in  greater  numbers  and  fervency 
''called  on  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  must  have  been 
facilitated  and  accompanied  by  a  new  consecration  of 
the  Sabbath,  as  all  modern  revivals  of  religion  are. 

Did  not  Noah  observe  the  holy  day,  when,  after 
waiting  seven  days  for  divine  deliverance,  once  and 
again  he  sent  forth  a  dove  to  discover  signs  of  answer 
to  his  prayers?  Did  not  Israel  remember  it  when, 
after  being  deprived  of  its  proper  freedom  and  promise 
two  hundred  years,  they  demanded  from  Pharaoh  the 
restoration  of  its  privileges  ?  The  first  act  of  rebel- 
lion against  their  oppressors  seems  to  have  been  turn- 
ing from  their  imposed  tasks  to  hallow  the  Sabbath. 
Pharaoh  complained  to  Moses  that  the  people  wanted 
to  "sabbatize."  Later,  Moses  demanded  release  for 
the  people  that  they  might  go  out  of  the  cities,  and 
in  the  retirement  of  the  wilderness  enjoy  a  prolonged 
freedom  in  the  renewal  of  their  covenant  with  God, 
and  in  their  Sabbath  worship.  After  they  began 
their   Exodus,  how  rigorous    the    observance  of   the 


ESTABLISHED    IN   EDEN.  23 

Sabbath  !  How  plausible  the  right  of  a  people  to 
gather  manna  on  the  seventh  as  on  all  other  days  ! 
But  the  prestige  of  an  accepted  divine  law  prevented 
it.  Hundreds  of  thousands,  intoxicated  by  their  new- 
found liberty,  and  impatient  of  all  restraint,  refrained 
from  gathering  manna  on  the  Sabbath,  and  stoned  one 
who  picked  up  sticks,  in  violation  of  the  holy  day. 
There  is  no  more  intimation  of  the  abrogation  of  the 
Sabbath  before  Moses  than  after  Moses. 

With  these  testimonies  of  the  Assyrians  and  the 
Hebrews,  nothing  but  the  most  certain  evidence  could 
shake  the  argument  for  \.\\&tmiversality  of  the  Sabbath 
law.  Two  ancient  nations  have  preserved  the  record 
of  the  holy  day,  inscribed  upon  tables  of  stone.  No 
nation  has  preserved  any  record  or  tradition  against 
it.  Variation  of  days  in  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome, 
as  in  France,  may  be  easily  explained  by  natural  en- 
croachments of  vvorldliness  and  impiety  upon  religious 
ordinances.  They  as  clearly  recognized  the  necessity 
of  periodic  rest,  and  as  palpably  defended  their  eighth, 
tenth,  or  twelfth  day  as  Hebrews  and  Christians  do 
the  seventh  day.  All  nations,  therefore,  have  agreed 
in  \h.^  principle  of  periodic  rest,  to  be  enforced  by  both 
civil  and  religious  sanctions.  Objections  arising  from 
varying  periods  of  rest  avail  nothing  toward  setting 
aside  the  great  primitive  Sabbath  institution.  Any 
periodic  rest  enforced,  an  agreement  upon  the  seventh 
proportion  of  time  would  soon  follow.  Only  those 
who  deny  the  natural  and  revealed  law  of  a  Sabbath 
cavil  at  that  particular  proportion  of  time.  However 
these  questions  are  settled,  the  principle  of  the  Sab- 


24  LAW   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

bath  law  remains  as  indestructible  as  the  family.  As 
established  in  the  beginning  and  in  the  constitution 
of  man,  and  certainly  observed  by  the  most  ancient 
nations,  its  obligatoriness  can  no  more  be  disproved 
by  its  neglect,  partial  observance,  or  even  by  its  entire 
suppression  in  some  lands  and  ages,  than  the  obliga- 
toriness of  other  precepts  of  the  Decalogue  by  their 
neglect  or  open  violation  by  depraved  races.  As  a 
river  lost  in  some  subterranean  channel  reappears  and 
traces  its  silvery  course  to  the  sea,  so  the  Sabbath, 
after  having  long  disappeared  in  the  impiety  of  dif- 
ferent lands  or  ages,  reappears  with  more  pronounced 
claims  and  greater  prestige,  bearing  on  its  sacred 
bosom  the  peace  and  destinies  of  the  world. 

If  ever  the  Sabbath  was  binding  upon  man,  it  con- 
tinued binding  through  the  patriarchal  and  all  suc- 
ceeding ages.  If  divine  blessing  consecrated  the 
Sabbath  for  the  world,  its  observance  must  have  con- 
tinued till  the  blessing  was  revoked.  If  established 
as  a  universal  law,  it  must  have  been  binding  till  re- 
pealed by  the  same  authority  which  established  it. 
Hence  Paley  says,  '' If  the  divine  command  was  actu- 
ally delivered  at  the  creation,  it  was  addressed  no 
doubt  to  the  whole  human  species  alike,  unless  re- 
pealed by  some  subsequent  revelation,  binding  upon 
all  who  come  to  the  knowledge  of  it." 

Luther,  commenting  on  Gen.  ii.  3,  says, ''  It  therefore 
follows  from   this  place  that  if    Adam    had  abode  in       r 
innocence  he  should  yet  have  kept  the  seventh  day— 
that  is,  he  should  have  instructed  his  descendants  con- 
cerning His  will,  worship,  thanksgiving,  and  offerings. 


ESTABLISHED   IN   EDEN.  2$ 

On  other  days  he  should  have  cultivated  the  soil  and 
tended  flocks.  Nay,  after  the  Fall  he  sanctified  the 
seventh  day:  in  other  words,  he  instructed  his  family 
on  that  day,  as  is  testified  by  the  offerings  of  his  sons 
Cain  and  Abel.  Wherefore  the  Sabbath  was  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  set  apart  to  divine  wor- 
ship." Melancthon  says,  "The  seventh,  as  the  word 
*  sanctify'  denotes,  was  appropriated  to  divine  service." 
Calvin,  on  Ex.  xx.  8,  declares,  "  Unquestionably,  when 
He  had  finished  the  creation  of  the  world,  God 
assumed  to  Himself  and  consecrated  the  seventh  day, 
that  He  might  keep  His  worshippers  entirely  free 
from  all  other  cares,  when  engaged  in  considering  the 
beauty,  excellence,  and  glory  of  His  works."  On 
Gen.  ii.  3  he  further  says,  "God  therefore  first  rested, 
then  blessed  this  rest,  that  in  all  ages  it  might  be 
sacred  among  men  ;  in  other  words,  He  consecrated 
every  seventh  day  to  rest,  that  His  own  example  might 
be  a  perpetual  rule."  Ursinus,  summing  up  the 
authority  of  the  scholars  of  the  Reformation  period, 
says  in  his  catechism,  "  As  these  relate  to  no  definite 
period,  but  to  all  times  and  ages  of  the  world,  it  fol- 
lows that  God  would  have  men  bound  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world,  even  to  its  end,  to  keep  a  certain 
Sabbath."  Epiphaneas  of  the  fourth  century  says, 
"  The  first  Sabbath  from  the  beginning,  decreed,  and 
declared  by  the  Lord  in  the  creation  of  the  world,  has 
revolved  in  its  cycle  of  seven  days  from  that  day  till 
now."  Chrysostom  traces  the  Sabbath  from  the 
"Beginning."  Augustine  dates  the  "Sabbath  of 
eternity"  from  the  creation  of  man.     Athanasius  con- 


26  LAW    OF   THE   SABBATH. 

eludes  that  "Noah  must  have  understood  and  Abra- 
ham observed  what  Moses  restored  to  its  primitive 
sanctity." 

The  Sabbath,  thus  attested  by  the  terms  of  its 
appointment,  by  the  blessing  pronounced  upon  it,  by 
the  permanence  of  its  necessities,  by  the  testimony  of 
prevailing  sabbatic  divisions  of  time,  by  the  observ- 
ance of  the  earliest  historical  nations,  and  especially 
also  by  the  nation  made  guardian  of  primitive  divine 
revelations,  should  be  accepted  as  a  primitive  divine 
ordinance,  like  the  order  of  the  seasons  or  the  suc- 
cession of  day  and  night,  binding  on  all  mankind  to 
the  end  of  time. 


11. 

Enforced  by   Moses. 

"  Remember  the  Sabbath-day,  to  keep  it  holy." 

From  the  argument  of  the  preceding  chapter  we 
might  expect  to  find  Moses  explicitly  recognizing  the 
Sabbath  as  a  primitive,  divine  law.  And  it  is  in  this 
character  that  it  is  incorporated  into  his  incompara- 
ble summary  of  the  universal  duties  of  men.  The 
very  words  of  the  injunction  suppose  an  institution 
already  existing.  "Remember  the  Sabbath-day,  to 
keep  it  holy,"  must  refer  to  the  same  Sabbath  which 
was  appointed  at  the  infancy  of  the  race,  observed  by 
the  patriarchs,  and  enjoined  upon  Israel  in  the  wil- 
derness. He  founds  it  on  the  blessing  and  example 
of  the  Creator  :  "  For  in  six  days  the  Lord  made 
heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is, 
and  rested  the  seventh  day  :  wherefore  the  Lord 
blessed  the  Sabbath-day,  and  hallowed  it."  Moses 
recalls  attention  to  a  duty  none  questioned,  though 
long  neglected  and  dishonored.  In  the  religious 
revival  inspiring  the  Exodus  the  observance  of  this 
and  other  moral  duties  was  restored.  As  a  river  lost 
in  a  wilderness  may  reappear,  and  open  a  new  chan- 
nel to  the  sea,  so  this  primitive  institution,  after 
having  been   almost  forgotten,  is  restored,   and   ex- 


28  LAW   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

alted  to  become  the  leading  measure  of  a  great  refor- 
mation. Moses  did  not  institute  a  new  law,  but 
bade  Israel  honor  an  old  one,  given  to  Adam,  honored 
by  the  patriarchs,  and  now  restored  to  them  in  their 
emancipation  from  Egyptian  bondage.  He  made  this 
primitive  Sabbath  the  foundation  of  a  new  civil 
polity  and  a  new  religious  discipline.  He  exalted  it 
to  greater  reverence,  by  association  with  the  order  of 
creation  and  the  example  of  the  Creator.  He  dated 
human  history  by  the  seventh  day,  and  appointed 
for  man  a  sacred  rest  before  any  servile  labor.  He 
allowed  man  to  begin  life  in  sweet  repose,  and  in  the 
jubilance  of  religious  worship.  Cessation  from  toil 
was  one  of  the  primary  ends  sought  by  the  Sabbath 
ritual  of  Moses.  It  did  not  remove  the  necessity  for 
labor,  but  removed  its  galling  yoke  one  day  in  seven. 
It  did  not  revoke  the  primitive  order,  "Six  days  shalt 
thou  labor  ;"  "  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat 
bread."  If  it  did  not  allow  idleness,  it  mitigated  the 
drudgery  of  toil,  and  by  intermitting  its  exertions 
prevented  discouragement  and  despair.  More  is 
said  about  this  design  of  the  Sabbath  than  about  any 
other.  /The  first  order  guarding  its  sanctity  forbade 
going  out  of  camp  on  the  Sabbath.^  There  could 
be  no  excuse  for  seeking  food  on  the  morning  of  that 
day,  for  a  double  portion  of  manna  fell  on  the  pre- 
ceding day.  .This  prohibition  determined  the  dis- 
tance a  Jew  might  travel  on  that  day,  and  it  became 
known  as  a  Sabbath-day's  journey.  This  regulation 
made  the  Jews  a  domestic  people,  and  guarded  them 
from  the  peril  of  intimate  social  intercourse  with  the 


ENFORCED    BY   MOSES.  29 

neighboring  tribes.  '  It  further  assured  rest  to  the 
weary,  else  tempted  to  continue  pursuits  of  industry 
or  pleasure.  While  preventing  long  journeys,  this 
restriction  was  no  prison  discipline,  but  gave  ample 
scope  to  intercourse  with  their  own  people.  The  next 
restriction  was  placed  on  manual  labor  of  any  kind. 
A  holiday  was  given  to  hands  as  well  as  feet:  "In 
it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor 
thy  daughter,  thy  manservant,  nor  thy  maidservant, 
nor  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy 
gates."  This  law  assured  rest  to  all  classes,  and  for- 
bade avarice  or  power  or  pleasure  to  encroach  upon 
it.  Toil  becomes  unendurable  when  unbroken.  This 
law  set  a  limit  upon  greed,  enforced  moderation  in 
the  pursuits  of  wealth,  and  bade  the  strong  protect 
the  weak.  It  prevented  indirect  violation  by  men- 
tioning all  members  of  the  household,  of  both  sexes, 
not  forgetting  the  stranger,  the  slave,  or  even  the 
dumb  brute.  The  father  is  made  responsible  for  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  by  "all  within  his  gates." 
Everybody  is  made  to  share  in  this  blessing  of  repose, 
The  plough  is  in  the  shed,  the  ox  in  the  stall,  the 
pruning-hook  leans  against  the  wall  by  the  waterpot 
and  the  sickle,  the  low  rumbling  of  the  millstones  is 
not  heard,  nor  the  dull  thud  of  the  flail  on  the  thresh- 
ing-floor. No  back  is  bowed  to  a  burden,  and  no 
svVeat  starts  from  the  face.  No  threatening  storm-cloud 
in  the  west,  no  early  frost,  was  to  tempt  tliem  to  de- 
part from  the  strict  order  of  the  day.  "Six  days 
thou  shalt  work,  but  the  seventh  thou  shalt  rest  ;  in 
earing  time  and  harvest  thou  shalt  rest," 


30  LAW    OF   THE   SABBATH. 

No  property  th^it  could  be  saved  by  Sunday  labor 
could  compensate  for  the  personal  moral  loss  incurred 
by  disobedience.  "  To  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice." 
The  order  is  imperative:  "Six  days  may  work  be 
done  ;  but  the  seventh  is  the  Sabbath  of  rest,  holy  to 
the  Lord."  Merchants  were  compelled  to  desist  from 
trade.  Amos  represents  them  as  saying  ''When  will 
the  new  moon  be  gone,  that  we  may  sell  corn  ?  and 
the  Sabbath,  that  we  may  set  forth  wheat,  making  the 
ephah  small,  and  the  shekel  great,  and  falsifying  the 
balances  by  deceit."  Jeremiah  was  commanded  to 
stand  in  the  gate  of  the  city  and  cry,  ''Thus  saith 
the  Lord  :  Take  heed  to  yourselves,  and  bear  no  bur- 
den on  the  Sabbatli-day  ;  nor  bring  in  by  the  gates 
of  Jerusalem,  nor  carry  forth  a  burden  out  of  your 
houses  on  the  Sabbath-day,  neither  do  ye  any  work, 
but  hallow  ye  the  Sabbath-day,  as  I  commanded  your 
fathers."  When*  Israel  was  full  of  iniquity,  by  force 
of  conscience  or  custom  they  still  outwardly  kept  the 
holy  day  ;  but  Isaiah,  exposing  the  hypocrisy,  and 
insisting  on  the  spirituality  of  the  Sabbath  ritual, 
declared  their  observance  in  such  circumstances  was 
an  abomination.  "Bring  no  more  vain  oblations; 
incense  is  an  abomination  unto  Me  ;  the  new  moons 
and  Sabbaths,  the  calling  of  assemblies,  I  cannot  away 
with;  it  is  iniquity,  even  the  solemn  meeting."  In 
the  reformation  under  Nehemiah  the  people  took  "an 
oath,  among  other  things,  that  "if  the  people  of  the 
land  bring  ware  or  any  victuals  on  the  Sabbath-day 
to  sell,  that  we  would  not  buy  it  of  them  on  the  S*ab' 


ENFORCED   BY   MOSES.  3 1 

bath-day."  Afterwards  Nehemiah  used  more  ener- 
getic measures  to  keep  the  Sabbath. 

"In  those  days  saw  I  in  Judah  some  treading  wine- 
presses on  the  Sabbath,  and  bringing  in  sheaves,  and 
lading  asses  ;  as  also  wine,  grapes,  and  figs,  and  all 
manner  of  burdens,  which  they  brought  into  Jerusa- 
lem on  the  Sabbath-day  :  and  I  testified  against  them 
in  the  day  wherein  they  sold  victuals.  There  dwelt 
men  of  Tyre  also  therein,  which  brought  fish,  and  all 
manner  of  ware,  and  sold  on  the  Sabbath  unto  the 
children  of  Judah,  and  in  Jerusalem.  Then  I  con- 
tended with  the  nobles  of  Judah,  and  said  unto  them, 
What  evil  thing  is  this  that  ye  do,  and  profane  the 
Sabbatli-day  ?  Did  not  your  fathers  thus,  and  did  not 
our  God  bring  all  this  evil  upon  us,  and  upon  this 
city?  Yet  ye  bring  more  wrath  upon  Israel  by  pro- 
faning the  Sabbath.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when 
the  gates  of  Jerusalem  began  to  be  dark  before  the 
Sabbath,  I  commanded  that  the  gates  should  be  shut, 
and  charged  that  they  should  not  be  opened  till  after 
the  Sabbath  :  and  some  of  my  servants  set  I  at  the 
gates,  that  there  should  no  burden  be  brought  in  on 
the  Sabbath-day.  So  tlie  merchants  and  sellers  of 
all  kind  of  ware  lodged  without  Jerusalem  once  or 
twice.  Then  I  testified  against  them,  and  said  unto 
them,  Why  lodge  ye  about  the  wall  ?  if  ye  do  so  again, 
I  will  lay  hands  on  you.  From  that  time  forth  came 
they  no  more  on  the  Sabbath"  (Nehemiah  xiii.  15-21). 

The  next  law  guarding  the  Sabbath  was  couched 
in  these  words  :  "Ye  shall  kindle  no  fire  throughout 
your  habitations    upon    the  Sabbath-day."       As   the 


32  LAW    OF   THj:    SABBATH. 

Jews  lived  in  a  southern  climate,  this  prohibition  in- 
volved little  if  any  bodily  discomfort.  It  prohibited 
the  preparation  of  food  ;  and  thus  assured  to  women 
and  servants  (a  third  or  half  of  the  population)  the 
freedom  of  the  Sabbath.  /Necessary  food  was  pre- 
pared on  the  sixth  day  ;  all  culinary  work  suspended 
and  the  fire  put  out  on  llie  hearth  on  the  seventh  day. 
There  were  six  other  days  in  the  year  on  which  no 
servile  work  was  to  be  done  ;  but  no  restriction  was 
made  as  to  lighting  fires,  except  on  the  weekly  Sab- 
bath, and  the  day  of  Atonement. 

But  though  so  rigorously  guarded,  the  Sabbath 
was  not  a  gloomy,  but  a  joyful  day.  AH  appeared 
in  holiday  attire,  and  greeted  each  other  with  saluta- 
tions of  peace  and  good-will.  The  rich  spread  tables 
for  the  poor,  and  none  lacked  bread  and  good-cheer 
on  the  Sabbath-day.  This  weekly  cessation  of  hibor 
and  mingling  of  all  classes  in  charity  and  good-fel- 
lowship attracted  observation  and  criticism.  Seneca 
and  Juvenal  called  the  Jews  idlers  on  account  of 
their  universal  Sabbath  rest.  So  conspicuous  was 
this  suspension  of  toil  after  their  exodus,  that  Tacitus 
says  the  Jews  seemed  to  think  coming  out  of  Egypt 
was  the  end  of  labor.  The  Romans,  not  used  to  see- 
ing the  laboring  man  and  the  slave  at  leisure,  were 
impressed  with  tlie  democratic  character  of  the  Jew- 
ish Sabbath.  Isaiah,  celebrating  the  joyful  liberty  of 
the  Sabbath,  calls  the  day  ''a  delight,  the  holy  of  the 
Lord,  honorable."  Hosea  names  the  Sabbalh  among 
the  good  times  Israel  was  to  lose  on  account  of  her 
sin.     "I  will  cause  all  her  mirth  to  cease,  her  feast 


ENFORCED   BY   MOSES.  33 

days,  her  new  moons,  and  her  Sabbaths,  and  all  her 
solemn  feasts.  What  will  ye  do  in  the  solemn  feast, 
and  in  the  day  of  the  feast  of  the  Lord  ?"  It  was  on 
the  first  day  of  the  seventh  month,  the  Sabbatic 
month,  that  Ezra  gathered  the  people  together  and 
read  to  them  out  of  the  Law,  till  they  wept  ;  but 
Nehemiah  and  Ezra  said  unto  all  the  people,  "  This 
day  is  holy  unto  the  Lord  your  God  ;  mourn  not,  nor 
weep.  Go  your  way,  eat  the  fat,  and  drink  the 
sweet,  and  send  portions  to  them  for  whom  nothing 
is  prepared  ;  for  this  day  is  holy  unto  our  Lord  ; 
neither  be  ye  sorry  :  for  the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your 
strength,  and  the  people  went  away  and  made  great 
mirth."  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath was  resplendent  with  gladness.  Joy  requires 
rest ;  but  rest  without  joy  is  worse  than  labor.  It 
was  the  recurring  peace  and  jubilance  of  their  Sab- 
bath which  made  their  neighbors  exclaim,  in  envious 
praise,  "  Blessed  is  the  people  whose  God  is  the 
Lord."  As  the  sun  of  the  day  of  preparation  set,  the 
blast  of  a  trumpet  sounded  from  hill  to  hill,  as  if  to 
announce  throughout  the  land,  and  to  all  the  inhabi- 
tants thereof,  the  return  of  a  king  with  victorious 
army.  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates  :  even  lift 
them  up,  ye  everlasting  hills:  and  the  King  of  glory 
shall  come  in.  Who  is  this  King  of  glory  ?  The 
Lord  of  Hosts,  he  is  the  King  of  glory." 

The    Jewish    Sabbath    was    especially    devoted    to 
worship.     It  was  the  Lord's  Day.     Its  temporal  pro- 
visions were  consecrated  by  religious  worship.     Rest 
and  religious  contemplation  were  the  steps  leading  to 
3 


34  LAW    OF   THE    SABBATH. 

the  sanctuary.  The  body  and  soul  were  guarded 
against  hindrances  and  depressing  circumstances,  and 
guaranteed  time  for  worship.  It  was  man's  day, 
because  it  was  God's  gift,  and  consecrated  by  His 
special  blessing.  Man's  greatest  happiness  culmi- 
nated in  celebrating  God's  glory.  After  working  as 
God  wrought,  man  is  commanded  to  rest  and  hal- 
low the  Sabbath,  because  God  rested  and  hallowed 
the  seventh  period  of  time  :  "  For  in  six  days  the 
Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  in 
them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh-day,  wherefore  the 
Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath-day,  and  hallowed  it." 
The  divine  example  and  sanction  alone  were  ade- 
quate to  arrest  the  world's  pursuit  of  gain  and  pleas- 
ure, enforce  the  Sabbath  observance,  and  call  the 
swarthy  smith  from  his  forge,  the  bronzed  husband- 
man from  the  field,  and  the  naked  fisherman  from 
the  sea  to  rest  and  worship  God.  Man's  work  was 
ennobled  by  comparison  with  God's  creative  acts  ; 
and  his  rest  was  hallowed  by  association  with  his 
complaisant  review  and  contemplation  of  His  own 
works  and  glory.  Only  as  rounded  out,  completed, 
and  glorified  by  liallowed  rest  could  man's  toil  rise 
from  drudgery  to  dignity,  from  servility  to  sanctity. 
Life  was  not  to  be  a  perpetual  and  forced  march,  but 
was  to  celebrate  weekly  reviews  and  triumphs.  It 
was  not  to  be  a  harp  of  one  string,  snapping  the 
monotonous  twang  of  labor  ;  but  a  harp  of  a  thou- 
sand strings,  thrilling  earth  with  heavenly  harmo- 
nies. 

The  Sabbath  was  made  a  seal  of  God's  covenant 


ENFORCED   BY   MOSES.  35 

with  Israel.  "  Wherefore  the  children  of  Israel  shall 
keep  the  Sabbath,  to  observe  the  Sabbath  through- 
out their  generations,  for  a  perpetual  covenant." 
Ezekiel  also  distinguishes  this  use  of  the  day:  "  More- 
over also  I  gave  them  my  Sabbaths  to  be  a  sign  be- 
tween me  and  them,  that  they  might  know  that  I  am 
the  Lord  that  sanctify  them."  An  ordinance  so  es- 
sential to  the  maintenance  of  religion  naturally  be- 
came a  proof  and  measure  of  it,  not  only  for  them, 
but  for  all  ages.  An  existing  institution,  in  a  re- 
newed consecration  is  made  the  sign  of  a  covenant 
between  God  and  His  people  :  as  the  rainbow  pro- 
duced by  the  order  of  Nature  and  destined  to  con- 
tinue as  long  as  her  laws  operate  was  made  a  resplen- 
dent sign  of  God's  providence  over  the  world,  and  of 
His  promise  to  avert  from  it  devastating  floods  age 
after  age  ;  so  the  existing  Sabbath  is  exalted  as  a  seal 
of  God's  covenant  of  mercy  to  all  those  who  show  their 
love  to  Him  by  keeping  it  holy.  Among  the  Jews, 
therefore,  the  Sabbath  became  the  measure  and-  stand- 
ard of  piety  and  divine  promise.  Keeping  the  Sab- 
bath, they  were  sure  to  keep  all  the  divine  command- 
ments. On  that  day  the  morning  and  evening  sacrifice 
was  doubled,  fresh  shewbread  was  brought  before 
the  Lord  ;  at  Jerusalem  the  Jew  resorted  to  the  Tem- 
ple to  worship,  and  elsewhere  a  holy  assembly  was 
held  in  the  synagogue,  the  reading  of  the  law  and 
prayer  being  the  only  sacrifices.  The  psalm  begin- 
ning "It  is  a  good  thing  to  give  thanks  unto  the 
Lord  "  was  composed  especially  for  the  Sabbath-day. 
On  that  day  the  devout  sought  instruction  from  the 


36  LAW   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

prophets,  and  the  Shunammite  was  surprised  that  his 
wife  wanted  to  visit  Elisha  any  other  day  of  the 
week.  ''  Wherefore  wilt  thou  go  to  him  to-day  ?  It 
is  neither  new  moon  nor  Sabbath." 

To  link  still  closer  the  day  and  the  people  to  Him- 
self, the  Lord  chose  the  Sabbath  as  a  memorial  of 
Jewish  independence,  the  day  of  deliverance  from 
bondage.  "  Remember  that  thou  wast  a  servant  in 
Egypt,  and  that  the  Lord  thy  God  brought  thee  out 
thence  through  a  mighty  hand,  and  by  a  stretched- 
out  arm  :  therefore  the  Lord  thy  God  commanded  to 
keep  the  Sabbath-day."  It  was  the  keeping  the  Sab- 
bath that  distinguished  and  elevated  the  Jews  above 
their  heathen  neighbors.  Such  stress  was  laid  upon 
its  observance  that  its  violation  was  regarded  as  a 
capital  crime.  Seven  times  is  the  Sabbath  command- 
ment repeated,  and  thrice  is  the  death-penalty  added 
to  it :  "  Every  one  that  defileth  it  shall  surely  be  put 
to  death  ;  for  whosoever  doeth  any  work  therein, 
that  soul  shall  surely  be  cut  off  from  among 'his 
people."  It  was  some  months  after  giving  this  law 
before  there  was  occasion  to  enforce  it.  Then  a  man 
was  caught  gathering  sticks  on  that  day  ;  Moses  and 
Aaron  put  him  in  ward,  hesitating  about  inflicting  so 
severe  a  sentence  for  such  an  apparently  trifling 
offence.  But  the  Lord  said  unto  them,  "The  man 
shall  surely  be  put  to  death  :  all  the  congregation 
shall  stone  him  with  stones  without  the  camp."  This 
rigorous  punishment  measured  the  gravity  of  the 
offence  against  the  Mosaic  code,  and  the  danger  of 
the  example  to  the   safety  and   separation  of  Israel 


ENFORCED  BY   MOSES.  37 

from  the  heathen,  and  their  triumphant  entrance  into 
the  Promised  Land.  In  all  statute-books  penalties 
are  supposed  to  measure  the  importance  of  laws.  It 
was  because  the  Sabbath  was  made  the  foundation  of 
the  Temple,  the  Throne,  and  the  Home,  thatGod 
guarded  it  as  more  sacred  than  the  life  of  the  indi- 
vidual who  violated  it. 

All  promises  to  the  Jews  were  attached  to  the 
faithful  observance  of  the  Sabbath.  All  curses  hang 
over  its  profanation.  In  Jeremiah's  lament  over  the 
desolation  of  Jerusalem  nothing  pains  him  more  than 
the  loss  of  the  Sabbath  :  ''  He  hath  destroyed  his 
places  of  the  assembly ;  the  Lord  hath  caused  the 
solemn  feasts  and  Sabbaths  to  be  forgotten  in  Zion." 
This  ravage  is  traced  directly  to  the  profanation  of 
the  Sabbath  :  "  But  if  ye  will  not  hearken  to  me  to 
hallow  the  Sabbath-day,  then  will  I  kindle  a  fire  in 
the, gates  thereof,  and  it  shall  devour  the  palaces  of 
Jerusalem,  and  it  shall  not  be  quenched."  Ezekiel 
takes  up  the  same  strain  :  "  My  Sabbaths  they  greatly 
polluted  :  then  I  said  I  would  pour  out  my  fury  upon 
them  in  the  wilderness,  to  consume  them.  "Over  and 
over  again  the  prophet  refers  to  the  pollution  of  the 
Sabbath  as  a  most  flagrant  offence  in  the  sight  of 
God,  and  the  cause  of  the  many  judgments  with 
which  He  visited  His  people.  Likewise  the  richest 
blessings  were  assured  as  long  as  the  day  was  kept 
holy.  Isaiah  says,  "Blessed  is  the  man  that  doeth 
this,  and  the  son  of  man  that  layeth  hold  on  it ;  that 
keepeth  the  Sabbath  from  polluting  it,  and  keepeth 
his  hand  from  doing  any  evil,  even  unto  them  will 


38  LAW   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

1  give  in  my  house,  and  vvitliin  my  walls  a  place  and 
a  name  better  tlian  of  sons  and  daughters  ;  I  will 
give  them  an  everlasting  name  that  shall  not  be  cut 
off.  Even  them  will  I  bring  to  my  holy  mountain, 
and  make  them  joyful  in  my  house  of  prayer.  If 
thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  Sabbath,  from 
doing  thy  pleasure  on  my  holy  day  ;  and  wilt  honor 
Him,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine 
own  pleasure  on  my  holy  day  ;  and  call  the  Sabbath 
a  delight,  the  holy  of  the  Lord,  honorable  ;  and  shall 
honor  Him,  not  speaking  thine  own  words ;  then 
shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord,  and  I  will 
cause  thee  to  ride  upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth, 
and  fill  thee  with  the  heritage  of  Jacob  thy  father  ; 
for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it."  Jeremiah 
is  commanded  to  offer  similar  promises:  "and  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  if  ye  will  diligently  hearken  unto 
me,  saith  the  Lord,  to  bring  in  no  burdens  through 
the  gates  of  the  city,  on  the  Sabbath-day,  but  hallow 
the  Sabbath-day,  to  do  no  work  therein  :  then  shall 
there  enter  into  the  gates  of  this  city  kings  and 
princes,  sitting  on  the  throne  of  David,  riding  in 
chariots,  and  on  horses,  they  and  their  princes,  the 
men  of  Judah,and  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  ;  and 
this  city  shall  remain  forever." 

Such  is  the  estimate  Moses  put  upon  the  social, 
political,  and  religious  value  of  the  Sabbath  to  the 
Jews.  If  it  had  such  promise  for  them,  it  has  the 
same  for  all  mankind.  If  binding  on  them  it  is  bind- 
ing upon  us.  The  Jewish  ritual  enforcing  it  may  be 
repealed,  but  the  law   itself  is  unrepealed.      Its  ab- 


ENFORCED   BY   MOSES.  39 

rogation  would  be  as  disastrous  as  that  of  the  family 
or  the  Decaloo^ue.  Sabbath  observance  was  wrought 
into  the  whole  social,  civil,  moral,  and  religious  life 
of  the  Jews,  as  a  golden  thread,  binding  the  harmony 
of  the  nation. 


III. 

Reaffirmed  by  Christ. 

"  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man." 

The  heir  to  a  crown  inherits  all  the  powers  swayed 
by  it.  So  Christ — proclaimed  the  "  Son  of  God  with 
power,"  "appointed  heir  of  all  things,"  and  hailed  by 
Jehovah,  "  Thy  throne,  O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever:  a 
sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the  sceptre  of  Thy  king- 
dom"— must  inherit  universal  spiritual  dominion. 
Succeeding  Moses  and  the  prophets  in  administration 
of  the  kingdom  of  God,  He  assumed  supreme  author- 
ity over  the  faith  and  conscience  of  mankind,  and  be- 
came the  accredited  expounder  of  the  character  and 
will  of  God,  and  of  the  duties  of  man.  "  Consider 
the  Apostle  and  High  Priest  of  our  profession,  Christ 
Jesus  ;  who  was  faithful  to  Him  that  appointed  Him, 
as  also  Moses  was  faithful  in  all  his  house.  .  .  .  And 
Moses  verily  was  faithful  in  all  his  house  as  a  servant, 
for  a  testimony  of  those  things  which  were  to  be  spoken 
after ;  but  Christ  as  a  son  over  His  own  house." 
Moses  was  a  steward  of  divine  revelations,  but  of 
lesser  rank  than  the  Son  of  God,  who  was  endowed 
with  supreme  wisdom  and  authority.  Christ  was 
n^inister-plenipotentiary  of  the  Court  of  Heaven  to 
this  earthly  province  of  its  universal  empire.     And  He 


REAFFIRMED   BY   CHRIST.  4I 

declared  that  He  came  not  to  repeal,  but  to  interpret, 
and  more  faithfully  apply  existing  divine  law : 
"  Think  not  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  or 
the  prophets  :  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil." 
The  claims  of  the  moral  law,  as  defined  in  the  Deca- 
logue, and  illustrated  by  the  prophets,  He  came  not 
to  abate  one  jot  or  tittle,  but  rather  to  magnify  them 
and  promote  their  fulfilment.  An  apostle  of  liberty 
could  not  ignore  the  twelve  articles  on  human  rights 
formulated  by  Hubmeyer,  and  heralded  in  the  Peas- 
ants' War,  or  the  various  rendering  of  those  principles 
contended  for  by  the  Netherlands,  or  as  more  elabo- 
rately defended  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
of  the  American  colonies.  These  great  principles  of 
human  rights  are  reappearing  in  various  statement 
in  the  struggles  for  freedom  age  after  age.  The  aim 
of  a  true  political  reformer  can  only  eliminate  from 
these  principles  antagonizing  laws  and  vicious  admin- 
istrations. So,  assuming  the  administration  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth,  Christ  exposed  errone- 
ous interpretations  of  these  laws,  and  set  forth  more 
clearly  the  character  and  will  of  God  and  the  duties 
of  men,  and  reinforced  original  divine  ordinances 
with  more  spiritual  sanctions.  He  charged  the  Phar- 
isees with  making  void  these  ordinances  by  their 
traditions  and  false  interpretations.  He  restored 
then;i  to  their  true  basis  and  sanction.  He  no  more 
abrogated  the  Sabbath  than  the  family,  or  other  laws 
of  the  Decalogue.  If  he  did  not  frequently  and  for- 
mally reaffirm  the  Sabbath,  no  more  did  He  the  being 
of  God,  the  future  life,  or   the   family  law.     These 


45  LAW   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

first  principles  of  religion  were  alike  postulated  in 
all  our  Lord's  teachings.  The  Sabbath  was  clearly 
embraced  in  the  "  Law  and  the  prophets"  He  came 
expressly  to  "  fulfil."  It  was  incorporated  in  the  Dec- 
alogue ;  accepted  as  binding  not  only  upon  the  Jews, 
but  also  on  all  mankind.  Besides,  in  the  most  emphatic 
manner  He  declared  "  the  Sabbath  was  made  for 
man" — for  man  universally — for  man  to  the  end  of 
time.  It  was  not  given  as  a  provincial  or  temporary 
law,  but  as  a  universal  and  permanent  institution. 
It  was  no  more  intended  to  be  temporary  than  the 
family,  civil  government,  the  rights  of  property,  or  the 
law  of  gravitation.  It  will  be  binding  wherever  man 
is  found  on  earth,  to  the  end  of  human  history.  It 
was  in  force  before  Moses,  and  continued  to  be  after 
him.  It  did  not  first  appear  in  the  Jewish  ritual,  and 
it  did  not  pass  away  with  it.  Christ  abolished  the 
accepted  ritualism  of  the  Sabbath,  but  retained  the 
Sabbath  itself.  If  He  ignored  the  Mosaic  Sabbath, 
He  restored  and  hallowed  the  Sabbath  of  Eden,  and 
universal  humanity.  In  no  word  or  act  did  he  chal- 
lenge or  discredit  that  primitive,  divine,  and  perma- 
nent institution.  Let  us  follow  our  Lord's  interpre- 
tation and  exemplification  of  the  Sabbath  law,  as  He 
reconsecrates  it  for  His  Church,  and  for  all  mankind 
to  the  end  of  time.  When  He  came  upon  earth  the 
Sabbath  had  become  a  burden.  There  were  thirty- 
nine  articles  in  the  traditional  Sabbath  statutes,  many 
of  which  were  puerile  or  cruel.  The  prohibition  of 
burden-bearing  on  the  Sabbath  was  enforced  with 
sophistical  discrimination  to  the  obstruction  of  any 


REAFFIRMED   BY   CHRIST.  43 

ministry  of  relief  or  of  mercy.  Sandals  might  be 
worn  unless  nailed,  when  they  became  burdens.  A 
handkerchief  was  unobjectionable  if  tied  around  the 
neck,  or  fastened  to  the  dress,  but  came  under  the 
ban  when  carried  loose.  A  horse  could  be  led  to  the 
trough,  but  it  would  be  bearing  a  burden  to  carry  a 
pail  of  water  to  the  manger.  '  In  walking,  no  one 
should  leave  the  path  to  walk  on  the  grass,  or  pluck 
and  rub  off  in  his  hands  the  kernels  of  an  ear  of  corn  : 
for  that  would  be  threshing  with  the  hands  and  feet. 
When  the  Sabbath  approached,  the  traveller,  however 
near  inn  or  home,  must  end  his  journey  and  suffer  the 
inconvenience  and  hardship  of  delay  and  expense,  ac- 
cording to  the  rule  of  the  Essenes.  Titus  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  religious  scruples  of  the  besieged  Jews 
to  push  forward  his  works  undisturbed  on  the  seventh 
day,  preparatory  to  attack.  Among  this  people,  "  wise 
above  what  was  written"  by  Moses,  and  "  righteous 
overmuch,"  our  Lord  appeared,  and  His  evident  pur- 
pose was  to  save  the  original  institution  and  divest  it 
of  false  interpretations.  He  was  careful  to  observe 
the  Sabbath-day.  On  that  day  He  was  found  in  the 
synagogue.  "And  He  went  out  from  them  :  and  He 
Cometh  into  His  own  country  ;  and  His  disciples  fol- 
low Him.  And  when  the  Sabbath  was  come,  he  be- 
gan to  teach  in  the  synagogue."  "And  he  entered 
again  into  the  synagogue  ;  and  there  was  a  man  there 
which  had  his  hand  withered.  And  they  watched 
Him  whether  He  would  heal  on  the  Sabbath-day, 
that  they  might  accuse  Him."  "  And  he  was  teaching 
in  one  of  the  synagogues  on  the  Sabbath-day."    Thus 


44  LAW  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

in  Jerusalem,  Galilee,  Perea,  wherever  he  was,  he  en- 
tered the  synagogues  on  the  Sabbath-day.  He  hon- 
ored the  Sabbath  by  performing  upon  it  some  of  His 
most  wonderful  cures.  The  man  with  the  withered 
hand  stretched  it  forth,  the  blind  man  went  to  the 
pool  of  Siloam,  the  woman  bound  with  a  spirit  of  in- 
firmity eighteen  years  was  made  straight,  the  man 
with  the  infirmity  for  thirty-eight  years  arose  and  took 
up  his  bed  and  walked,  the  man  with  the  dropsy  was 
healed,  a  few  sick  folk  at  Nazareth  and  Peter's  wife's 
mother  at  Capernaum  were  cured,  and  the  man  with 
a  spirit  of  an  unclean  devil  was  freed — all  on  the 
Sabbath-day.  He  honored  the  Sabbath  even  when 
charged  with  violating  it  :  "  And  for  this  cause  did 
the  Jews  persecute  Jesus,  because  He  did  these  things 
on  the  Sabbath."  "  And  the  Pharisees  said  unto  Him, 
Behold,  why  do  they  on  the  Sabbath-day  that  which 
is  not  lawful  ?"  "  Are  ye  wroth  with  me  because  I 
made  a  man  every  whit  whole  on  the  Sabbath  ?" 
"  Some  therefore  of  the  Pharisees  said.  This  man  is 
not  from  God,  because  He  keepeth  not  the  Sabbath." 
"  And  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  being  moved  with 
indignation  because  Jesus  had  healed  on  the  Sabbath, 
answered,  and  said  to  the  multitude  :  *  There  are  six 
days  in  which  men  ought  to  work  :  in  them,  therefore, 
come  and  be  healed,  and  not  on  the  Sabbath.'  "  Jrt 
defending  Himself  from  these  attacks,  our  Lord  in  no 
^ase  impugns  the  authority  and  sanctity  of  the  Sab- 
bath. He  justifies  His  disciples  in  plucking  the  ears 
of  corn  when  they  were  hungry  on  the  Sabbath-day, 
by  appealing  to  the  conduct  of  David,  who,  when  he 


REAFFIRMED   BY   CHRIST.  45 

was  hungry,  '*  entered  into  the  house  of  God,  when 
Abiathar  was  high-priest,  and  did  eat  the  shewbread, 
which  it  was  not  lawful  to  eat,  save  for  the  priests,  and 
gave  also  to  them  that  were  with  him."  On  the 
ground  that  "  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and 
not  man  for  the  Sabbath,"  H^ defended  any  conduct 
on  that  day  that  was  necessary  to  sustain  life.  He 
silenced  those  who  were  watching  to  see  whether  He 
would  heal  on  the  Sabbath,  by  this  single  question  : 
"  Is  it  lawful  on  the  Sabbath-day  to  do  good  or  to  do 
harm,  to  save  life  or  to  kill  ?"  He  put  to  shame  his 
adversaries  who  were  indignant  at  the  cure  of  a  wo- 
man on  that  day,  by  exclaiming,  "  Ye  hypocrites,  doth 
not  each  one  of  you  on  the  Sabbath-day  loose  his  ox  or 
his  ass  from  the  stall,  and  lead  him  away  to  watering  ? 
And  ought  not  this  woman,  being  a  daughter  of  Abra- 
ham, whom  Satan  hath  bound,  lo!  these  eighteen  years, 
to  have  been  loosed  from  this  bond  on  the  day  of  the 
Sabbath  ?"  He  vindicated  the  cure  of  the  man  at  the 
pool  of  Siloam,  by  quoting  Moses  himself  :  For  this 
cause  hath  Moses  given  you  circumcision  ;  and  on  the 
Sabbath  ye  circumcise  a  man.  If  a  man  receiveth 
circumcision  on  the  Sabbath,  that  the  law  of  Moses 
may  not  be  broken,  are  ye  wroth  with  me  because  I 
made  a  man  every  whit  whole  on  the  Sabbath  ?"  In 
another  place  he  says,  "  Have  ye  not  read  in  the  law 
how  that  on  the  Sabbath-day  the  priests  in  the  Temple 
profane  the  Sabbath-day  and  are  guiltless  ?  What 
man  shall  there  be  of  you  that  shall  have  one  sheep, 
and  if  this  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  Sabbath-day,  will  he 
not  lay  hold  on  it  and  lift  it  out  ?    How  much,  then, 


4.6  LAW   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

is  a  man  of  more  value  than  a  sheep  ?     Wherefore  it 
is  lawful  to  do  good  on  the  Sabbath-day." 

On  one  occasion  the  Pharisees  held  their  peace 
when  he  prefaced  a  cure  by  putting  to  them  the  ques- 
tion, "Is  it  lawful  to  heal  on  the  Sabbath-day,  or 
not  ?"  After  the  miracle  he  added,  "  Which  of  you 
shall  have  an  ass  or  an  ox  fall  into  a  well,  and  will  not 
straightway  draw  him  up  on  a  Sabbath-day?  And 
they  could  not  answer  again  unto  these  things."  In 
none  of  His  replies  does  the  Saviour  impinge  on  the 
fourth  commandment.  He  leaves  it  standing,  no 
longer  covered  with  the  rubbish  of  traditions  and  un- 
natural restrictions,  but  in  the  native  grandeur  of 
its  primitive  enactment.  The  scribes  had  made  it  a 
heavy  burden :  Jesus  restored  it  as  a  heavenly  bene- 
diction. They  had  inclosed  it  as  a  prison  :  He 
opened  it  as  a  day  of  spiritual  emancipation.  They 
were  content  to  make  it  a  day  of  selfish  ease  :  He  con- 
secrated it  to  active  ministries  of  charity.  They  mis- 
apprehended and  perverted  the  Law  :  He  explained 
and  fulfilled  it.  He  appealed  from  their  prejudices 
to  their  better  understanding.  He  unfolds  the  un- 
suspected depth  of  the  commandment  of  Sabbath 
rest :  "  But  if  ye  had  known  what  this  meaneth,  *  I 
desire  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice,'  ye  would  not  have 
condemned  the  guiltless."  Though  He  claimed,  as 
Son  of  man,  to  be  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  He  kept  it  as 
a  king  keeps  his  own  laws.  Such  was  the  influence  of 
His  own  example  that  His  grave  remained  unvisited 
all  through  the  hours  of  the  Sabbath.  In  His  fore- 
thought for  His  nation,  the  people  that  had  rejected 


REAFFIRMED    BY   CHRIST.  47 

Him,  He  bids  His  disciples,  in  view  of  the  calamity 
impending  over  Jerusalem,  to  pray  that  their  flight 
"be  not  in  the  winter,  neither  on  the  Sabbath." 

The  disciples,  apprehending  the  threatened  calam- 
ity, fled  across  Jordan  to  Perea  ;  but  the  unbelieving 
Jews  fell  like  slaughtered  sheep.  From  this  review 
of  Christ's  Sabbath  teaching  and  observance  we  infer 
that,  like  Moses,  He  assumed  the  institution  of  the 
Sabbath  in  Eden,  and  the  perpetuity  of  its  obliga- 
tions. He  did  not  defend  this  primitive  divine  law 
by  argument  or  illustration,  but  postulated  it  in  all 
His  teachings — as  He  did  the  being  of  God,  the  spiri- 
tual nature  of  man,  and  the  future  life.  Declaring  it 
"  was  made  for  man"  in  the  beginning,  and  intimating 
no  right  to  annul  it.  He  exalts  it  as  the  most  august 
institution,  and  symbol  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
on  earth.  It  can  no  more  be  safely  eliminated  from 
the  discipline  of  life  than  the  Decalogue,  the  nightly 
rest,  the  order  of  the  seasons,  or  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion. 


IV. 

Perpetuated  in  the  Lord's  Day. 

"The  Son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath-day." 

If  essential  Sabbath  observance  depended  upon 
exact  enumeration  of  days  from  the  creation,  no  age  or 
people  could  be  sure  of  possessing  the  Sabbath.  The 
Russian  and  English  calendars  differing  about  the 
firsts  could  not  agree  in  establishing  the  seventh  day 
for  any  part  of  the  world.  The  validity  of  an  ordi- 
nance for  all  mankind  could  not  therefore  have  been 
left  contingent  upon  a  question  of  learned  research 
not  one  in  a  thousand  has  the  capacity  or  opportunity 
to  solve.  No  uncertainty  about  the  enumeration  of 
days  from  the  morning  of  creation  can  at  all  weaken 
the  authority  of  the  Sabbath  law. 

If  consecration  of  the  same  time  was  essential  to 
Sabbath  observance,  it  would  be  equally  impossible 
to  fix  on  a  holy  day  for  the  world.  The  Sabbath  of 
one  degree  of  longitude  would  displace  or  abridge 
that  of  every  other.  In  their  dispersion  over  the 
earth  mankind  have  necessarily  observed  different 
times.  In  making  the  circuit  of  the  globe  the  Sab- 
bath varies  with  the  longitude,  and  the  traveller  west, 
returning  to  the  place  of  his  departure,  however  scru- 
pulous in  the  enumeration  of   days,  finds  he  is  ob- 


PERPETUATED    IN   THE    LORD'S    DAY.  49 

serving  the  seventh  instead  of  the  first  day  ;  while 
the  traveller  East,  equally  scrupulous  in  observing 
the  succession  of  days,  returning  to  the  same  place, 
is  observing  the  second  instead  of  the  first  day. 
English  sailors,  visiting  Pitcairn  Island,  arrived  on 
Saturday,  and  found  the  islanders  keeping  the  Chris- 
tian Sabbath.  Reaching  the  island  from  different 
directions,  the  Saturday  of  one  was  the  Sunday  of 
the  other.  According  to  the  notion  of  an  exact  enu- 
meration of  days,  or  of  identical  holy  time,  therefore,  a 
Sabbath  for  the  world  is  clearly  impossible.  A  holy 
day  for  universal  humanity  was  not  based  upon  any 
such  precarious  foundation  ;  but  conditioned  upon 
exact  siiccessio?i  and  proportion  of  time,  no  differ- 
ence of  calendar  or  of  longitude  could  wrest  from 
sacred  observance.  Even  Jewish  law,  with  all  its 
scruples  about  Sabbath  and  Sabbatic  times,  recog- 
nized the  essential  law  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  exact 
succession  and  proportion  of  time.  Wherever  the 
Hebrew  travelled  or  sojourned,  the  existing  holy  day 
was  accepted  without  raising  the  question  of  its 
place  in  the  series  of  days  from  the  birth  of  crea- 
tion. And  if  he  found  himself  among  strange  peo- 
ple, observing  their  own  feast-days  in  place  of  the 
primitive  Sabbath,  or  were  himself  uncertain  of  the 
identit;y  of  the  true  Sabbath,  according  to  Jewish  law 
he  might  inaugurate  for  himself  an  enumeration  and 
succession  of  days.  All  the  law  required  of  him  was 
an  invariable  sacred  rest  after  each  six  days  of  labor 
Keeping  holy  every  seventh  day,  he  fulfilled  the 
royal  law.  If  Jews  now  scattered  throughout  the 
4 


50  LAW    OF   THE    SABBATH. 

world  should  merge  their  Sabbath  observance  with 
the  Lord's  Day  throughout  Christian  lands,  they 
might  be  clearly  justified  by  their  own  law.  And  if 
Christians  through  change  of  meridian  had  come  to 
fraternize  with  Sabbatarians  in  their  holy  day,  they 
might  none  the  less  have  honored  the  Lord's  Day. 
Therefore  the  ends  of  the  Sabbath  of  Eden  as  well 
as  the  supplementary  purposes  of  the  Lord's  Day 
might  be  attained  in  the  same  identical  time.  The 
same  day  might  commemorate  both  creation  and 
redemption.  Easter  is  celebrated  by  devotees  as 
enthusiastically  as  if  no  doubt  remained  of  the  chro- 
nology of  the  closing  events  of  the  life  of  our  Lord. 
Assuming  that  the  observance  of  the  same  day  in  the 
seven  might  fulfil  the  Sabbath  law  of  both  dispen- 
sations alike  ;  and  that  the  commemoration  of  the 
first  day  is  but  supplementary  of  that  of  the  seventh, 
it  should  not  seem  strange  that  the  double  Sabbath 
was  united  in  the  first  day  of  the  week.  The  change 
might  have  occurred  from  natural  fitness  without 
any  apostolic  council  or  decree.  And  it  was  grad- 
ually and  with  long  tolerance  of  both  days  that  at 
length  the  first  day  triumphed  over  the  seventh,  and 
became  the  Sabbath  of  the  Christian  world. 

For  the  following  reasons  it  should  now  be  ac- 
cepted as  the  only  available  universal  Sabbath: 

a.  The  change  of  day  may  claim  the  divine  bless- 
ing as  retaining  the  essential  Sabbath.  How  could 
it  have  occurred  without  the  most  certain  divine  au- 
thority ?  To  guard  the  inviolability  of  His  laws,  God 
had    signally   punished    Saul,    Nadab,    and    Abihu. 


PERPETUATED   IN   THE    LORD'S   DAY.  5  I 

How  then  could  He  have  been  pleased  with  the  sub- 
stitution of  the  first  for  the  seventh  day,  if  not  pro- 
vided for  in  His  new  revelation  ?  How  could  the 
Apostle  have  encouraged  by  precept  and  example 
the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day,  if  set  apart  with- 
out divine  authority,  while  warning  the  churches 
against  the  bondage  of  mere  human  appointments  ? 

b.  If  the  first  day  is  not  to  be  accepted  as  the  Sab- 
bath, Christendom  has  been  without  the  Sabbath 
rest  appointed  in  Eden  for  eighteen  centuries.  We 
can  conceive  of  godless  lands  and  ages  falling  into 
the  disuse  or  perversion  of  primitive  divine  laws, 
but  not  the  most  loyal  people  of  God  through  all  the 
centuries.  The  martyr-saints  of  each  generation  be- 
lieved they  kept  the  essential  Sabbath  in  hallowing 
the  Lord's  Day.  They  believed  they  attained  in  the 
first  day  the  holy  rest  and  communion  with  God  con- 
templated in  setting  apart  the  seventh  day  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden. 

c.  The  change  of  day  seemed  necessary  to  wean 
Jewish  believers  from  their  cumbersome  ritualism. 
The  seventh  day  was  so  interwoven  with  all  their 
ceremonial  observance,  and  so  associated  with  their 
multiplied  feast-days,  that  displacing  the  seventh  day 
from  the  religious  calendar  seemed  to  displace  Juda- 
ism from  the  public  confidence,  and  prepare  the  way 
for  the  universal  introduction  of  the  ceremonial  of 
the  Christian  Church. 

d.  But  clear  Apostolic  example  abundantly  justi- 
fies the  universal  substitution  of  the  first  for  the 
seventh  as  the  Christian  Sabbath.     This  change  may 


52  LAW    OF   THE   SABBATH. 

have  been  one  "  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  king- 
dom of  God,"  concerning  which  Luke  tells  us  Jesus 
spoke  to  His  disciples  after  the  resurrection.  It  can 
hardly  be  considered  a  casual  circumstance  that  the 
Lord's  appearances  previous  to  His  ascension  into 
heaven  occurred  so  commonly  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week.  That  day  seems  to  have  been  particularly 
chosen  by  the  risen  Lord  as  the  time  for  meeting 
His  disciples  —  as  if  the  seventh  day  had  been  in 
force  until  the  death  of  our  Lord,  and  His  resurrec- 
tion became  the  signal  for  the  transfer  of  its  sanctity 
to  the  first  day.  As  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  its  shadow 
was  buried  with  Him.  The  long  hallowed  holy  day 
had  been  clouded  by  the  sin  of  the  world,  and 
through  its  tedious  hours  the  body  of  the  King  of 
glory  lay  in  the  dark  grave.  As  Lord  of  the  Sab- 
bath, He  brought  to  light  when  He  arose  a  day  of 
greater  promise,  a  day  of  more  glorious  rest,  and 
hope  for  all  people.  Creation  was  restored  by  re- 
demption. Foreboding  fears  were  dissipated  by  the 
celebration  of  a  Saviour's  triumph  over  sin  and  the 
grave.  The  first  day  was  forever  transfigured  with 
the  splendors  of  an  assured  promise  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead  and  life  everlasting  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The^rst  day  not  only  celebrates 
redemption  and  the  resurrection,  but  the  dawn  and 
restoration  of  creation,  when  God  said  "  Let  there  be 
light^'  *'  and  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  over  the  face  of 
the  waters."  ''The  light  that  never  shone  on  land 
or  sea"  streamed  forth  from  the  open  sepulchre  ;  and 
when,  after  seven  full  weeks  were  past,  on  the  first  day 


PERPETUATED   IN   THE   LORD's   DAY.  53 

of  the  week,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  the  mighty  Spirit 
of  God  Ascended,  and  moved  on  the  face  of  the 
hundred  and  twenty  disciples  in  the  upper  chamber 
at  Jerusalem.  Pentecost  was  the  first-fruits  ;  and  it 
fell  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  as  if  to  consecrate 
that  day  forever  for  the  special  descent  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  upon  the  churches  of  Christ  through  the 
ages.  Although  references  to  a  day  of  worship  are 
rare  in  the  later  inspired  annals  of  the  Christian 
Church,  they  are  all  in  one  direction,  and  imply  a  gen- 
eral observance  of  the  first  day  of  the  week.  Paul's 
order  relating  not  only  to  the  church  at  Corinth, 
but  also  to  the  churches  of  Galatia,  that  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week  every  disciple  should  lay  by  him  in 
store  as  God  had  prospered  him,  leads  us  naturally 
to  infer  that  Christian  worship  was  established  in 
Greece  and  Galatia  at  least  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week.  The  Apostle's  protest  against  Judaizing  teach- 
ers — "  Let  no  man,  therefore,  judge  you  in  meat 
or  drink,  or  in  respect  of  an  holy  day,  or  of  the  new 
moon,  or  of  the  Sabbath-days"  —  proves  that  the 
seventh  day  as  well  as  festivals  of  the  old  dispensa- 
tion were  considered  obsolete.  Only  the  first  day 
bound  the  conscience  of  the  early  churches.  Though 
the  old  day  has  passed  away,  they  might  still  exclaim 
withjoy,  "  There  remaineth,  therefore,  a  rest  for  the 
people  of  God  " — an  earthly  and  symbolical  rest  as 
well  as  a  heavenly  rest. 

"  For  we  who  have  believed  do  enter  into  rest" — 
into  the  symbolic  rest  of  redemption,  as  earlier 
saints  into  that  of  creation.      Though  the  religious 


\ 


54  LAW    OF  THE   SABBATH. 

uses  of  the  Sabbath  might  still  be  attained  on  the 
seventh  day  and  the  promiscuous  observance  of  this 
with  the  first  day  was  doubtless  tolerated  in  the  Jew- 
ish disciples  ;  still  so  authoritative  was  Christ's  Lord- 
ship and  the  inspired  discretion  of  the  Apostles  over 
the  Sabbath,  that  after  the  resurrection  there  is  no 
notice  of  Christian  assemblies  on  the  seventh  day. 
Ever  after  they  hallow  the  first  day  as  their  holy  day. 
The  apostles  meet  the  churches  in  their  first-day  as- 
semblies in  different  parts  of  the  world,  and  some- 
times delay  journeys  to  enjoy  this  established  order 
of  worship.  Paul  tarried  at  Troas  with  the  disciples 
seven  days  in  order  *'  to  break  bread  "  with  them  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week.  The  sojourn  at  Tyre  the 
same  period  (Acts  xxi.  4)  seems  to  have  been  for  the 
same  purpose.  Paul  (i  Cor.  xi.  17)  speaks  of  the 
Corinthians  as  if  by  custom  "  coming  together  in 
the  church."  He  also  speaks  of  the  order  of  their 
stated  meetings  (i  Cor.  xiv.  22,  23)  :  "When  the 
whole  church  is  come  together."  He  recognizes 
times  and  places  of  public  worship  in  warning  the 
Hebrews  against  their  neglect  (Hebrew  x.  25):  "  Not 
forsaking  the  assembling  yourselves  together,  as  the 
manner  of  some  is."  Thus  by  all  the  assemblies 
and  discipline  of  the  primitive  churches  the  first  day 
of  the  week  was  enshrined  in  the  heart  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  as  the  seventh  was  in  the  heart  of  Israel. 
Because  the  change  has  been  made  in  the  name  and 
for  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  the  celebration  of  His 
kingdom,  th^  first  day  has  been  from  the  beginning 
called  the  Lord's  Day.     And  that  day  has  taken  the 


PERPETUATED   IN   THE    LORD'S   DAY.  55 

place  in  the  Christian  calendar  which  was  held  by 
the  seventh  in  the  Jewish  ritual.  It  has  been  incor- 
porated into  the  customs  and  laws  of  Christian  na- 
tions, as  a  day  set  apart  for  rest  and  religious  wor- 
ship. As  the  same  portion  of  time  occurs  in  the 
same  orderly  succession,  meeting  the  same  necessi- 
ties for  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  repose  and 
recuperation,  associated  with  the  same  analogy  of 
the  Creator's  rest  after  six  periods  of  work,  and  espe- 
cially as  adding  higher  memorial  use  to  that  of  the 
seventh  day,  and  commended  by  Apostolic  example, 
and  especially  as  commemorating  the  august  event 
of  the  resurrection,  the  Lord's  Day  imparts  new 
splendors  to  the  original  Sabbath  law.  It  comes  to 
the  church  as  often,  in  the  same  orderly  succession, 
insuring  the  same  privileges,  summoning  to  the  same 
duties,  commemorating  the  same,  and  added  prom- 
ises. The  same  heavenly  Friend  appears  in  more 
royal  robes,  and  bringing  more  wisdom,  beneficence, 
and  grace.  The  ritualistic  Sabbath  of  Moses  passed 
away ;  but  the  restored  Sabbath  of  Christ  shall 
abide  forever.  It  is  erected  as  the  monumental  tem- 
ple of  the  ultimate  religious  faith  of  all  mankind. 
Crossing  the  plains  of  California  in  a  railroad  train, 
a  storm  darkened  upon  us  from  the  mountains, 
gleaming  with  lightnings,  and  reverberating  with 
thunder,  and  erected  the  arch  of  a  most  gorgeous 
rainbow.  Its  supporting  pillars  of  gold  and  sap- 
phire rose  apparently  not  more  than  a  hundred  yards 
from  our  moving  trains,  as  the  columns  of  a  stupend- 
ous  archway,  disclosing   the   plain   beyond  covered 


$6  LAW    OF  THE   SABBATH. 

with  stunted  palm  and  cactus,  the  sky  half  veiled 
with  fleecy  clouds,  the  distant  mountain  towering 
over  the  continent  and  looking  toward  the  western 
and  eastern  oceans,  and  the  ever-glorious  Orient,  the 
source  of  the  ever-rising  day.  The  Lord's  Day,  rising 
from  the  base  of  the  celebration  of  the  Redemption 
and  Resurrection  of  Christ,  towers  over  the  ceme- 
teries and  graves  of  buried  ages,  the  resplendent 
archway  to  the  revelations  and  glory  of  immortality. 
It  opens  up  vistas  of  coming  centuries,  and  achieve- 
ments of  Christianity  through  her  millennial  reign,  to 
the  transcendent  glories  of  the  eternal  world.  Each 
generation  in  rapid  succession  gaze  through  it,  and 
by  faith  pass  to  their  eternal  rewards. 

Baxter,  as  cited  by  Hessey,  in  brief  terms  sets  forth 
the  grounds  of  the  observance  of  the  first  day  as  the 
Christian  Sabbath  .  "  Christ  commissioned  His  Apos- 
tles to  teach  the  Church  the  things  He  would  have 
them  observe.  He  gave  them  His  Spirit  to  enable 
them  to  do  this  infallibly,  by  recalling  His  words  to 
their  minds,  and  leading  them  into  all  necessary 
truth. 

"  His  apostles  did  de  facto  separate  the  Lord's  Day 
for  Christian  assemblies,  and  declared  the  cessation 
of  Jewish  Sabbaths.  That  is,  this  change  had  the 
very  same  author  as  the  Holy  Scriptures  (the  Holy 
Ghost  in  the  Apostles),  so  that  fact  hath  the 
same  kind  of  proof  that  we  have  of  the  Canon,  and 
of  the  integrity  and  uncorruptness  of  the  particular 
Scripture  books  and  texts  ;  and  that  if  so  much 
Scripture  as  mentioneth  the  keeping  of  the   Lord's 


PERPETUATED   IN   THE   LORD's  DAY.  57 

Day,  expounded  by  the  consent  of  the  Universal 
Church  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles  (all  keeping 
this  day  as  holy  without  the  dissent  of  any  one  sect 
or  single  person  that  I  remember  to  have  read  of) — I 
say,  if  all  this  history  will  not  fully  prove  the  point 
of  fact,  that  this  day  was  kept  in  the  apostolic  times, 
and  consequently  by  their  appointment,  then  the 
same  proof  will  not  serve  to  evince  that  any  text  of 
Scripture  is  canonical  and  uncorrupted  ;  nor  can  we 
think  that  anything  in  the  world,  that  is  past,  can 
have  historical  proof." 

The  early  history  of  the  Church  is  full  of  allusion 
to  the  first  day,  as  the  holy  day  of  the  Church. 

Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  only  a  few  years  after 
the  death  of  John  speaks  of  the  Lord's  Day  famil- 
iarly, as  if  accepted  by  all  Christians.  "  Let  us  no 
more  Sabbatize"  —  keep  the  Sabbath  as  the  Jews 
do.  "  But  let  us  live  in  accordance  with  the  life  of 
our  Lord  ;"  that  is,  observe  the  day  of  the  Lord  in 
Christian  work  and  worship.  Theophilus  of  Antioch, 
AD.  162,  says,  "Both  custom  and  reason  challenge 
from  us  that  we  should  honor  the  Lord's  Day,  seeing 
in  that  day  it  was  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  com- 
pleted His  resurrection  from  the  dead."  Irenaeus, 
Bishop  of  Lyons,  disciple  of  Polycarp,  who  was  com- 
panion of  the  Apostles,  says,  "  On  the  Lord's  Day 
every  one  of  us  Christians  keeps  the  Sabbath,  medi- 
tating on  the  law  and  rejoicing  in  the  works  of  God." 
Dionisius,  a  cotemporary  of  Irenaeus,  says,  "We  cele- 
brate the  Lord's  Day."  Clement  (192)  says,  "  A  Chris- 
tian, according  to  the  commandment  of  the  Gospel, 


58  LAW    OF   THE   SABBATH. 

observes  the  Lord's  Day,  thereby  glorifying  the  res- 
urrection of  the  Lord."  TertuUian  says,  "We  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Sabbath"  —  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath. "  The  Lord's  Day  is  the  Christian  Sabbath." 
Ambrose,  Bishop  of  Milan,  says  the  "Lord's  Day  is 
sacred,  or  consecrated  by  the  resurrection  of  Christ ;" 
and  Augustine,  "  The  Lord's  Day  was  by  the  resur- 
rection declared  to  Christians  ;  and  from  that  very 
time  it  has  grown  to  be  celebrated  as  the  Christian 
festival." 

Athanasius  says,  "  The  Lord  transferred  the  Sab- 
bath to  the  Lord's  Day."  Beza  on  Revelations  i.  lo 
says,  "  The  seventh  day  having  stood  from  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world  to  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  was  ex- 
changed by  the  Apostles,  doubtless  at  the  dictation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  for  that  which  was  the  first  day  of  the 
New  World."  The  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism, 
on  the  fourth  commandment  orders  this  answer  : 
"  From  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ,  God  appointed  the  seventh  day  to  be 
the  weekly  Sabbath  ;  and  the  first  day  of  the  week 
ever  since,  to  continue  to  the  end  of  the  world,  which 
is  the  Christian  Sabbath."  Anselm  says  the  Lord's 
Day  signifies  that  true  rest  which  He  who  rose  from 
the  dead  on  the  Lord's  Day  now  secures,  and  prom- 
ises to  the  saints,  and  therefore  we  do  rest  on  that 
day  from  all  labor — it  is  the  moral  part  of  the  Deca- 
logue, in  the  time  of  grace,  as  the  seventh  day  was 
in  the  time  of  law." 

Bishop  Pierson  in  his  exposition  of  the  Creed  says, 
"  From  this  resurrection  of  our  Saviour,  and  the  con- 


PERPETUATED   IN   THE   LORD'S    DAY.  59 

stant  practice  of  the  Apostles,  this  first  day  of  the 
week  came  to  have  the  name  of  the  Lord's  Day  ;  and 
is  so  called  by  St.  John,  who  says  of  himself,  '  I  was 
in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  Day.'  And  thus  the  ob- 
servation of  that  day,  which  the  Jews  did  sanctify, 
ceased,  and  was  buried  with  our  Saviour  ;  and  in  the 
stead  of  it,  the  religious  observation  of  that  day  in 
which  the  Son  of  God  rose  from  the  dead,  by  the 
constant  practice  of  the  blessed  Apostles,  was  trans- 
mitted to  the  Church  of  God,  and  so  continued  in  all 
ages."  Says  Matthew  Hale,  "And  thus  you  have  the 
reason  of  the  obligation  upon  us  Christians  to  ob- 
serve the  first  day  of  the  week,  being  our  Christian 
Sabbath  ;  and  so  the  fourth  commandment  is  not 
abrogated,  but  only  the  day  changed,  and  the  moral- 
ity of  that  command  only  translated,  not  annulled." 


Observed  by  the  Church. 

"See  Christians,  Jews,  one  Sabbath  keep." 

The  resurrection  of  Christ  created  the  Christian 
Sabbath  and  the  Christian  Church.  This  stupendous 
event  so  affects  the  condition  and  hope  of  the  world 
as  to  demand  a  day  to  commemorate  its  transcendent 
promise.  If  Christ  had  not  been  raised  from  the  dead 
no  ordinance  would  have  enshrined  His  name,  no 
Lord's  Day  proclaimed  His  spiritual  sovereignty,  and 
no  Church  celebrated  His  doctrines  and  worship. 

Christ's  Lordship  over  the  Sabbath  invested  Him 
with  power  to  vary  its  succession  of  time  and  its 
ritual.  A  Sabbath-day  must  not  be  confounded 
with  the  Sabbatic  institution.  It  has  never  been  pos- 
sible to  identify  the  exact  seventh  day  in  the  series  of 
days  from  the  creation.  If  ever  identified,  there  is  no 
reasonable  probability  of  its  hnving  been  preserved 
through  all  the  fluctuations  of  unhistoric  lands  and 
ages.  The  devotion  of  the  seventh  part  of  time  in 
orderly  succession  to  rest  and  worship — the  essential 
Sabbatic  law — has  been  palpable  to  all  periods  and 
peoples  alike.  As  Moses,  enforcing  the  Sabbath,  fixed 
the  beginning  of  an  enumeration  of  days,  added  to  its 
memorial  uses,  nnd   guarded   it  by  new  sanctions  ;  so 


OBSERVED    BY   THE   CHURCH.  6l 

Christ,  reaffirming  the  same  primitive  Sabbath,  to 
wean  His  disciples  from  effete  Judaism,  and  add  to  it 
higher  memorial  uses,  and  especially  to  celebrate  the 
inauguration  of  His  kingdom  by  His  resurrection 
from  the  dead,  set  apart  for  His  Church  a  new  enume- 
ration of  time,  and  made  the  first  day — the  day  He 
arose  from  the  tomb — the  Sabbath  of  His  Church  to 
the  end  of  time. 

The  infrequency  of  allusions  to  the  supremacy  of 
the  Lord's  Day  in  the  New  Testament  is  no  more 
remarkable  than  the  infrequency  of  allusions  to  the 
Mosaic  Sabbath  in  the  prophets,  or  the  infrequency  of 
assertions  of  the  being  of  God  or  the  immortality  of 
the  soul  in  either  the  old  or  new  Scriptures.  As  in 
the  Old  Testament  there  is  silence  in  regard  to  the 
great  Sabbath  law,  except  when  specially  menaced, 
so  there  is  silence  in  regard  to  the  Lord's  Day,  except 
in  correcting  misapprehensions.  In  accepting  the 
Decalogue  as  the  summary  of  universal  moral  duties, 
Christ  and  His  Apostles  clearly  acknowledged  the 
unrepealed  obligations  of  the  Sabbath.  Yet  they  nei- 
ther duly  observed  it  themselves,  nor  enforced  its 
observance  on  the  Church,  unless  they  observed  it  on 
the  first  day.  Accepting  the  Lord's  Day  as  the  Sab- 
bath, the  Church  through  all  the  centuries  have  hon- 
ored the  Sabbath  ;  but  denying  the  Lord's-day  Sab- 
bath, the  Church  have  almost  universally  desecrated  it. 
Assuming  that  the  early  Church  kept  the  essential 
Sabbath  on  the  ^r^-/ day  of  the  week,  allusions  to  the 
Lord's  Day  through  later  ages  are  fully  explained. 

Clement  of  Rome,  dyingat  the  close  of  the  first  cen- 


62  LAW    OF   THE    SABBATH. 

tury,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  commending 
the  Lordship  of  Christ,  says,  "  He  hath  commanded 
the  due  observance  of  offerings  and  rites  to  take  place 
neither  irregularly  nor  negligently,  but  at  appointed 
times  and  hours."  This  contemporary  of  the  Apostle 
John,  in  an  outlook  from  the  capital  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  contemplates  the  churches  observing  the 
same  accepted  ritual  of  v^orship  and  discipline. 
''Appointed  times"  must  have  embraced  the  order  of 
first-day  assemblies,  and  first-day  contributions  for  the 
poor  saints,  established  a  little  while  before  by  Paul 
in  his  missionary  journeys  through  provinces  of  the 
Roman  Empire. 

Ignatius,  another  contemporary  of  John,  writing 
about  the  close  of  the  first  century,  says,  "  If  those  who 
were  concerned  with  old  things  have  come  to  newness 
of  hope,  no  longer  keeping  Sabbaths,  but  living  ac- 
cord ing  to  the  Lord's  Day,  on  which  our  life  has  risen 
again  through  Him  and  His  death."  He  alludes  to  the 
Jewish  Sabbath  as  abrogated,  or  substituted  by  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  and  alludes  to  the  new  Sabbath, 
as  John  did,  as  the  Lord's  Day." 

The  epistle  of  Barnabas,  whether  genuine  or 
not,  dating  in  the  first  part  of  the  second  century,  says, 
"  Your  present  Sabbaths  are  not  acceptable  to  me. 
...  I  shall  make  the  eighth  day  a  beginning, 
which  is  the  beginning  of  another  world.  Therefore 
we  keep  the  eighth  day  with  joy,  on  which  Jesus  also 
arose  from  the  dead."  This  language  asserts  the  sub- 
stitution of  the  first  for  the  seventh  day  Sabbath,  and 
gives  a  reason  for  the  change. 


OBSERVED   BY   THE   CHURCH.  63 

The  letter  of  Pliny  the  civilian  to  Trajan  the 
emperor  confirms  the  testimony  of  the  first  Christian 
Fathers  as  to  the  general  observance  of  the  first  day 
of  the  week  as  the  Christian  Sabbath.  Answering 
inquiries  of  the  emperor  about  the  "  new  supersti- 
tion," he  says  of  the  Christians,  "  They  constantly  de- 
clare the  whole  of  their  crime  or  error  to  be  this,  that 
they  are  accustomed  to  meet  together  on  a  stated  day 
before  it  is  light,  and  sing  a  hymn  to  Christ  as  God." 
This  is  given  as  an  apology  of  the  Christians  at  the 
close  of  the  first  and  the  beginning  of  the  second  cen- 
tury. What  an  attestation  of  the  creed  of  the  early 
churches,  and  of  their  scrupulous  observance  of  the 
Lord's-day  Sabbath. 

Justin  Martyr  (138),  as  if  he  were  describing  the  wor- 
ship of  the  first  apostolic  churches,  speaks  of  reading 
the  writings  of  the  prophets,  the  celebration  of  the 
resurrection  and  of  the  first  day  as  "  the  chief  and 
first  of  all  the  days."  "  On  the  day  called  Sunday 
there  is  a  gathering  in  one  place  of  all  who  reside 
either  in  cities  or  in  country  places,  and  the  memoirs 
of  the  Apostles  and  the  writings  of  the  Prophet  are 
read." 

Dionysius,  Bishop  of  Corinth,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  cen- 
tury,, says,  "To-day  we  have  spent  the  Lord's  holy  day, 
and  in  it  we  have  read  your  epistle."  In  this  corre- 
spondence of  the  pastors  of  the  churches  of  the  two 
greatest  cities  of  that  age  we  have  recognized  the 
devotion  of  the  Lord's  Day  to  the  special  duties  of 
the  Sabbath.      That  Church  handbook,  called  *'The 


64  LAW   OF  THE    SABBATH. 

Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,"  recently  discovered, 
whether  genuine  or  not,  seems  equally  conclusive  of 
the  observance  of  the  first-day  Sabbath.  '^  And  on  the 
Lord's  Day,  being  gathered  together,  break  bread  and 
give  thanks,  having  confessed  also  your  sins,  that  your 
sacrifice  may  be  pure." 

Irenaeus,  Bishop  of  Lyons  (178),  in  a  memorial  to 
the  Bishop  of  Rome  in  respect  to  a  controversy  about 
Easter,  exalting  the  Lord's  Day  to  supremacy,  says, 
"  On  the  Lord's  Day  onl}^  should  the  mystery  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  Lord  be  observed," 

At  the  close  of  this  century,  Clement  of  Alexandria 
and  Tertullianof  Carthage  give  a  various  but  conclu- 
sive testimony  to  the  general  substitution  of  the  first 
for  the  seventh  day  Sabbath. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  Origen  of 
Alexandria  distinguishes  the  ''Jewish"  from  the 
"  Christian"  Sabbath,  speaks  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath  as 
passed  away,  and  makes  keeping  the  "  Lord's  Day" 
"  one  of  the  marks  of  the  perfect  Christian." 

Sixty-six  bishops,  constituting  the  Third  Council  of 
Carthage,  in  254,  emphasizing  the  substitution  of 
Christianity  for  Judaism,  made  circumcision  a  type 
of  the  Lord's  Day,  and  enjoined  its  universal  obser- 
vance by  Christians,  as  circumcision  was  observed  by 
the  Jews. 

At  the  last  of  the  third  century  a  distinguished 
martyr,  Victorinus,  commends  the  first-day  Sabbath. 
Also  Peter,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  says,  "  We  keep 
with  joy  the  Lord's  Day,  because  of  Him  who  rose 
thereon." 


OBSERVED   BY   THE   CHURCH.  65 

In  the  year  32 1  Constantine  made  the  first  law  enforc- 
ing the  observance  of  the  first  day  of  the  week.  It  is 
absurd  to  suppose  that  a  law  so  interfering  with  the 
liberty  of  citizens  would  have  been  decreed  if  it  were 
not  already  establislied  in  the  convictions  and  obser- 
vance of  the  great  body  of  Christian  citizens.  As  all 
wise  laws  arise  from  the  sacred  traditions  of  a  people, 
the  first  Sabbath  law  attests  not  only  the  conviction  of 
the  emperor,  but  also  of  the  Christian  believers  of  the 
empire.  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Caesarea,  the  first  Church 
historian,  in  his  eulogy  of  Constantine,  praises  him  for 
"commanding  all  dwellers,  whether  on  land  or  sea, 
to  meet  every  week,  and  keep  the  Lord's  Day  as  a 
festival  for  the  rest  of  the  body  and  the  nurture  of  the 
soul."  Cawdrey,  one  of  the  Westminster  divines,  exalts 
the  Christian  emperor  in  his  relation  to  legalizing  the 
Christian  Sabbath  to  the  dignity  of  Moses  in  estab- 
lishing the  primitive  Sabbath  :  '' As  the  first  Sabbath 
was  kept  (it  is  probable)  by  God  Himself  alone,  and 
was  propounded  as  a  copy  for  Adam  to  imitate  ;  so 
likewise  the  first  Lord's  day  was  kept  by  Christ  alone, 
and  commanded  to  the  practice  of  His  Apostles  and 
the   Church. 

"Adam  and  the  patriarchs,  whether  by  command 
or  inspiration,  did  (we  think)  imitate  God  in  the  ob- 
servation of  a  weekly  day,  but  in  a  different  manner, 
from  after-times,  viz.,  in  their  private  families,  in  which 
the  Church  then  resided.  So  the  Apostles,  upon  the 
same  grounds  (as  we  conceive),  imitated  their  Lord 
and  Master,  but  in  private  families  at  first,  or  pri- 
vate meetings — not  so  publicly  as  afterward. 


66  LAW   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

"The  children  of  Israel  (the  then  only  people  of 
God),  being  in  Egypt,  under  sore  pressure,  nor  did 
nor  could  keep  the  Sabbath  in  any  solemn  manner, 
not  being  permitted  rest  or  assemblies.  So  the  Church 
of  the  New  Testament  for  three  hundred  years,  living 
in  persecution,  could  not  keep  the  Lord's  Day  with 
that  solemnity  that  they  should  or  would  ;  but  as  for 
place,  secretly,  so  for  time  as  they  could  find  opportu- 
nity, in  the  day  or  night. 

Moses  did  but  revive  what  was  by  long  tract  of  time 
almost  obliterated,  nor  did  Constantine  constitute  but 
confirm  the  day  which  had  been  from  the  very  Apos- 
tles' times  and  by  the  Apostles  themselves  instituted, 
and  by  the  succeeding  churches  constantly  observed, 
as  well  as  they  might.  And  this  is  so  certainly  and 
confessedly  true,  that  we  cannot  but  wonder  that  any 
should  ever  question  it.  And  herein  they  are  alike  : 
that  as  Moses  did  settle  the  observation  of  the  Sabbath, 
not  institute  it,  so  the  most  that  Constantine  did 
was  but  to  rectify  the  observation  of  the  Lord's  Day, 
not  to  appoint  the  day  itself."  From  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine ecclesiastical  councils  and  Christian  nations 
have  agreed  in  maintaining  the  validity  of  the  first- 
day  or  Christian  Sabbath.  But  the  union  of  Church 
and  State  and  the  multiplication  of  feast-days  for  cen- 
•turies  almost  made  the  Sabbath  law  nugatory.  And 
the  Reformers,  in  reaction  from  its  superstitious 
ritualism,  to  emancipate  believers  from  the  domination 
of  Papacy,  almost  consented  to  the  secularization  of 
the  Sabbath.  Denying  the  obligations  of  the  Mosaic 
Sabbath,  they  left  the  Lord's  Day  to  the  discretion  of 


OBSERVED   BY  THE   CHURCH.  6/ 

of  Christian  liberty.  Luther  said  the  believer  had  a 
right  to  "  work,  ride,  or  dance  upon  it,  if  he  would." 
In  their  eagerness  for  Christian  liberty  the  Reformers 
would  have  subverted  the  Decalogue.  But  while 
Europe  was  surrendering  her  Sabbath  law  at  the 
dictation  of  ecclesiastical  creeds,  England  and  Scot- 
land, supported  by  the  great  name  of  John  Knox,  kept 
the  true  Christian  Sabbath  for  the  world. 

It  was  part  of  the  strong  Puritan  element  of  England 
that  first  settled  in  Holland  to  enjoy  more  fully  the 
peace  and  promise  of  the  Lord's  Day,  and  after  being 
baffled  in  their  pursuit  by  the  growing  secularization 
of  the  day  there,  sailed  in  the  Mayflower  for  New  Eng- 
land. So  prominent  was  a  holier  Sabbath  in  the  aims 
of  the  colonists,  that  they  delayed  landing,  and  spent 
their  first  Sabbath  in  the  New  World  on  Clark's  Island, 
that  their  first  step  on  the  new-found  shore  might  not 
desecrate  it;  and  Clark's  Island  thus  became  more 
significant  in  American  history  than  Plymouth  Rock. 
Thus  the  Christian  Sabbath  has  followed  and  auth  m- 
ticated  the  progress  of  Christianity  over  the  world, 
Nations  of  Europe  and  of  America  alike  recognize 
and  guard  the  same  sacred  time.  As  certainly  as 
Christianity  becomes  the  accepted  faith  of  the  world, 
the  Lord's  Day  will  become  the  Sabbath  of  all  man- 
kind.' Born  with  Christ  to  universal  empire,  the 
Christian  Sabbath  will  receive  with  Him  the  "  many 
crowns"  of  the  world. 


VI. 

Memorial  Day. 

**  It  is  a  sign  between  Me  and  the  children  of  Israel  forever." 

"Bright  shadows  of  true  rest ;  some  shoots  of  bliss  ; 
Heaven  once  a  week  : 
The  next  world's  gladness  prepossesst  in  this; 
A  day  to  seek. 

Monumental  history  is  old  as  signal  experiences 
and  achievements  of  men. 

Abraham  called  the  mount  where  he  offered  up 
Isaac,  Jehovah-jireh — making  it  a  perpetual  remem- 
brancer of  his  triumphant  faith. 

Jacob  set  up  a  stone  at  Bethel  to  commemorate  a 
divine  revelation  which  guided  and  cheered  his  whole 
life. 

Israel,  taking  twelve  stones  from  the  bed  of  the 
Jordan,  reared  them  on  its  brink  into  a  conspicuous 
memorial  of  the  close  of  their  pilgrimage  in  the  wil- 
derness, and  of  their  victorious  entrance  upon  their 
promised  inheritance. 

Most  conspicuous  among  the  remains  of  Nineveh 
and  Babylon  are  memorial  temples,  columns,  and 
tablets. 

The  pyramids  are  monuments  of  kings,  dynasties, 
and  civilization  of  Egypt. 


MEMORIAL  DAV.  69 

Columns,  arches,  and  temples  celebrate  the  arts 
empire,  and  religion  of  Greece  and  Rome. 

London,  Paris,  Berlin,  and  Vienna  rival  ancient 
cities  in  the  magnificence  of  their  monuments. 

Already  our  young  Republic  boasts  her  Bunker 
Hill,  Yorktown,  and  scores  of  other  monuments 
adorning  our  National  and  State  capitals  and  other 
great  cities  of  the  country,  celebrating  the  heroic 
achievements  of  our  fathers  and  the  glory  of  our  free 
institutions. 

But  commemorative  days  are  older,  more  available, 
and  more  indestructible  memorials  than  material 
structures.  A  day  is  set  apart  to  commemorate  the 
birth  of  an  individual,  the  founding  of  a  city  or  state, 
a  discovery  of  science,  a  political  revolution,  or  a 
triumph  of  liberty.  With  what  festive  days  the 
Hebrews  celebrated  their  exodus  from  Egypt,  and 
their  receiving  the  law  from  Sinai  !  Other  nations 
observed  similar  days  in  commemoration  of  their 
achievements  in  war  and  in  peace. 

The  American  Declaration  of  Independence  is  cel- 
ebrated on  the  Fourth  of  July  by  booming  cannon, 
civic  processions,  patriotic  assemblies,  and  pyro- 
technic exhibitions. 

Great  events  of  personal,  family,  and  national  life 
naturally  seek  celebration  in  commemorative  days. 

The  Sabbath  is  at  once  prototype  and  antitype  of 
all  memorial  days.  It  provides  for  and  encourages 
that  grateful  review  of  the  experiences,  plans,  and 
pursuits  of  life  which  will  quicken  a  sense  of  duties 
to  ourselves,  to  our  fellow-men,  and  to  our  Creator. 


70  LAW   OF  THE   SABBATM. 

All  commemorations  of  auspicious  events,  rising 
to  grateful  appreciation,  recognition  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, and  praise  to  the  universal  benefactor,  are 
provided  for  by  this  primitive  memorial  day.  Ap- 
preciation of  personal,  social,  or  civil  blessings  may 
rise  in  homage  to  God.  The  Sabbath  is  therefore  a 
remembrancer  of  all  religious  duties;  a  summons  of 
earth  to  offer  grateful  worship  to  heaven.  It  repeats 
in  holy  jubilance  the  song  of  the  morning  stars  over 
the  completed  creation,  and  the  song  of  the  angels 
ovdr  Bethlehem  celebrating  promised  redemption. 
It  rs  an  ever-recurring  call  upon  man  to  pause,  and 
devoutly  an-d  gratefully  consider  the  purpose  of  his 
being,  his  duty,  and  his  destiny.  With  the  emphasis 
of  divine  authority  and  tenderness  of  divine  com- 
passion, it  is  ever  calling,  as  if  its  voice  was  articu- 
lated in  the  music  of  the  spheres,  "  Oh  that  men  would 
praise  the  Lord  for  His  goodness,  and  His  wonderful 
works  to  the  children  of  men  !"  Those  who  never 
review  their  mercies  are  never  grateful  for  them. 
Those  who  are  not  inspired  with  gratitude  offer  no 
acceptable  worship  to  God.  Those  who  heed  not 
the  call  of  the  holy  day  feel  no  gratitude  or  accepta- 
ble reverence  for  the  universal  Father.  Men  who  do 
not  remember  God,  do  not  worship  in  spirit  and  in 
truth.  Those  who  keep  no  menx)rial  day  do  not  re- 
member Him  in  sentiments  of  gratitude  and  praise. 
How  august,  beneficent,  and  gracious  this  appoint- 
ment of  a  memorial  day  for  all  mankind!  In  its  insti- 
tution in  the  Garden  it  became  a  perpetual  remem- 
brancer to   patriarchal   nges  of   the  Creator's  power 


MEMORIAL  DAY.  7I 

wisdom,  and  goodness,  and  before  lawgivers  or 
prophets  appeared  was  a  monitor  to  worship  God. 

In  its  restoration  by  Moses,  in  addition  to  the  com- 
memoration of  creation  and  the  universal  providence 
of  God,  it  became  also  a  sign  of  special  providence 
over  the  Hebrews  in  delivering  them  from  Egyptian 
bondage  and  establishing  them  in  Canaan. 

In  its  reaffirmation  by  Christ  as  ''Lord  of  the  Sab- 
bath," it  became  a  memorial  of  His  resurrection  from 
the  dead,  and  the  promise  of  the  triumph  of  His 
kingdom  in  the  earth. 

As  it_was  a  sign  of_a_£OvenaDt  with  Israel,  the  Sab- 
bath in  its  changed  ritual  is  a  sign  of  the  covenant  of 
grace  with  Christian  believers.  It  remains  to  all  man- 
kind a  test  of  faith  in  Christ  and  loyalty  to  Him.  Its 
original  memorial  purpose,  renewed  in  the  covenant 
with  Israel,  is  transfigured  with  more  glory  in  the 
commemorations  of  Christianity.  The  Christian  Sab- 
bath enlarges  and  glorifies  the  memorial  use  of  the 
primitive  Sabbath  institution.  It  achieves  all  the 
seventh  day  accomplishes  and  more.  It  is  a  ''better 
covenant,"  and  assured  by  "  better  promises." 

This  commemorative  use  of  the  Sabbath  is  set  forth 
in  an  interesting,  though  somewhat  fanciful  manner 
by  Joseph  Mede,  as  cited  by  Hessey.  He  supposes 
the  Sabbath  to  include  "  two  respects  of  time  :  first, 
the  quotum,  one  day  in  seven,  or  the  seventh  day 
after  six  days  of  labor  ;  secondly,  the  designation,  or 
pitching,  that  seventh  day  which  we  call  Saturday. 
In  the  former  aspect  the  Israelites  acknowledged  God 
as  Creator,  and  followed  His  example  in  the  propor- 


72  LAW  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

tion  of  work  and  rest  (Ex.  xxxi.  i6,  17).  In  the  lat- 
ter they  had  reference  to  God's  deliverance  of  them 
from  Egypt,  which  he  conjectures  took  place  on  that 
particular  day  of  the  seven  (Deut.  v.  15).  He  says 
it  is  possible  that  the  Sabbath  of  the  quotum  and  the 
Sabbath  of  the  designation  may  have  coincided  (that 
is,  the  day  marked  as  the  Jewish  Sabbath  in  the  way 
he  supposes  may  really  have  been  the  seventh  in  an 
hebdomadal  cycle,  dating  from  the  creation).  All 
this  he  brings  forward  to  show  that  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians may  agree  as  to  the  quotum,  but  differ  as  to  the 
designation;  and  that  as  the  former  designated  the 
Saturday  as  their  Sabbath,  because  they  were  in  it 
delivered  from  temporal  bondage,  so  the  latter  desig- 
nated the  Sunday  as  their  Sabbath,  because  they 
were  on  it  delivered  from  sin  by  Christ's  resurrection 
from  the  dead."  Many  of  the  Fathers  find  allusion 
to  the  Lord's  Day  in  the  jubilation  in  the  118th 
Psalm:  "This  is  the  day  the  Lord  hath  made:  I 
will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it" — the  resurrection  day 
of  the  Lord  ;  the  day  which  brought  salvation  to 
men — a  source  and  inspiration  of  joy  and  gladness  to 
the  world  forever.  Peter,  an  early  bishop  and  martyr 
of  Alexandria,  recognizing  the  commemorative  pur- 
pose of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  says,  **  We  keep  the 
Lord's  Day  as  a  day  of  joy."  Athanasius  teaches  that 
"the  Sabbath,  the  end  of  the  old  creation,  has  de- 
ceased, and  that  the  Lord's  Day,  the  covenant  of  the 
new  creation,  has  set  in."  Macarius  of  Egypt  says 
the  "Jewish  Sabbath  was  a  type  and  shadow  of  the 
true   Sabbath  given   by  the  Lord    to   the   soul.     The 


MEMORIAL  t)AV.  ^3 

Lord,  when  He  came,  gave  man  the  true  and  eternal 
Sabbath,  and  this  is  freedom  from  sin.  They  who 
rest  from  sin  keep  a  true,  delightsome,  and  holy  Sab- 
bath." Basil,  Bishop  of  Caesarea,  calls  the  Lord's 
Day  "  the  day  never  to  be  concluded;  to  have  no 
evening,  no  successor;  the  life  which  shall  never 
cease,  and  never  grow  old."  Gaudentius,  Bishop  of 
Brescia,  contrasts  the  first  with  the  sixth  day  on  this 
wise  :  "  On  the  first  day  the  world  began  ;  on  the 
same  day  on  which,  because  the  Lord's  Day,  Christ 
renewed  man,  for  whose  sake  He  made  the  world. 
The  sixth  day  was  that  on  which  man  was  formed, 
and  on  which  also  Christ  suffered  for  man." 

As  a  memorial  of  both  creation  and  redemption, 
and  hence  of  all  the  great  thoughts,  sentiments,  and 
hopes  that  can  inspire  man,  the  Christian  Sabbath  is 
a  perpetual  remembrancer  of  man's  lordship  over 
nature,  and  the  greatness  of  his  responsibility,  and  of 
the  grateful  homage  he  owes  to  the  universal  Father. 
It  dawns  upon  him  with  a  sacred  brightness,  as  the 
splendor  of  the  morning  dissipating  the  gloom  of 
night.  In  its  coming  it  brings  to  him  statedly  a 
memorial  of  the  covenant  with  nature  and  its  Author, 
which  he  entered  into  at  his  birth,  and  binding  him 
inexorably  as  the  law  of  gravitation.  It  recalls  to 
impressive  remembrance  the  duties  he  owes  to  God, 
and  the  sympathy  and  service  he  owes  to  man.  It 
strikes  the  key-note  to  the  harmonious  pursuit,  ex- 
alted fellowship,  and  blessed  destiny  of  man.  It 
summons  earth  to  prayer.  It  is  a  ritual  of  worship 
to  the  end  of  time.    It  awakens  man  to  festal  triumph 


74  LAW   OF  THE   SABBATIL 

over  the  darkness  of  materialism,  the  weakness  of 
mortality,  and  the  gloomy  fears  of  infidelity.  It  is  a 
perpetual  celebration  of  all  that  is  noble  and  enno- 
bling in  man's  being,  history,  and  destiny,  and  in  pos- 
sibilities of  the  universe,  and  the  glory  of  God.  In  its- 
weekly  recurrence  let  us  dwell  in  ever-increasing  in- 
terest and  delight  on  the  *'old,  old  story"  of  creation 
and  redemption.  When  these  themes  cease  to  interest 
and  instruct,  man  is  sinking  into  atheism  and  animal- 
ism. If  only  to  sing  hymns  of  the  resurrection,  dig- 
nity, and  immortal  destiny  of  man,  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath compensates  a  hundred-fold  for  its  observance. 
On  its  hallowed  return,  over  graves  of  ancestors  let 
him  repeat  in  triumphant  faith,  "I  am  the  resurrec- 
tion and  the  life;"  "O  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O 
grave,  where  is  thy  victory?  Thanks  be  to  God,  who 
giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
As  the  Arch  of  Triumph,  with  its  symbolic  record  of 
resplendent  achievements,  rises  over  Paris,  challenging 
the  study  and  admiration  of  the  teeming  capital,  the 
great  nation,  and  the  observing  world  ;  so  the  Chris- 
tian Sabbath  rises  in  serene  majesty  over  all  king- 
doms and  peoples  of  the  earth,  covered. with  symbolic 
inscriptions  of  man's  being  and  his  relation  to  the 
economy  of  the  universe,  and  memorials  of  the  power, 
wisdom,  and  glory  of  the  Creator.  As  they  follow 
the  teaching  and  promise  of  the  Christian  Sabbath, 
mankind  will  become  a  universal  brotherhood,  and 
earth  Paradise  restored. 


VII. 
Holy  Day. 

"  So  sang  they,  and  the  empyrean  rung 
With  hallelujahs.     Then  was  Sabbath  kept." 

The  divine  order,  at  creation,  cutting  off  the  seventh 
part  of  time,  forbade  its  being  confounded  with  other 
days.  Until  that  order  is  revoked  the  separated  time 
cannot  be  reannexed  to  the  domain  of  common  life. 

The  divine  blessing  on  the  seventh  day  imparted  to 
it  a  sanctity  denied  to  other  days,  and  this  proportion 
of  time  should  be  kept  inviolate  till  that  holy  chrism 
is  obliterated. 

Association  of  divine  example  with  Sabbath  observ- 
ance hallowed  it  for  all  time.  Disregard  of  this 
majestic  precedent  is  the  presumption  of  impiety  and 
disobedience. 

The  fourth  commandment  incorporated  in  that  sum- 
mary of  universal  duties  recognized  by  Christ  and 
His  Apostles  enforces  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath. 
**  Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy.  Six 
days  shalt  thou  labor,  and  do  all  thy  work  :  but  the 
seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God  :  in  it 
thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor 
thy  daughter,  thy  manservant,  nor  thy  maidservant, 
nor  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy 
gates." 


76  LAW  OF  THE   SABBATFT. 

The  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath  was  the  test  and 
measure  of  the  loyalty  of  the  Hebrews  to  Moses  and 
the  prophets.  Isaiah  exclaims,  "  Blessed  is  the  man 
that  doeth  this,  and  the  son  of  man  that  layeth  hold 
on  it;    that  keepeth  the    Sabbath    from    polluting  it; 

every  one  that   keepeth   the    Sabbath   from 

polluting  it,  and  taketh  hold  of  my  covenant  :  even 
them  will  I  bring  to  my  holy  mountain,  and  make 
them  joyful  in  my  house  of  prayer." 

Finally,  the  devotion  of  the  Sabbath  to  religious 
uses  seals  its  sanctity.  The  paper  on  which  contracts 
and  title-deeds,  charters  and  constitutions,  are  written 
are  awarded  a  protection  and  inviolability  denied  to 
whole  reams  of  paper  covered  only  with  records  of 
casual  correspondence,  trifling  engagements,  or  neigh- 
borhood gossip.  So  that  page  of  life  which  is  written 
over  with  the  history  of  creation  and  redemption,  of 
religious  assemblies  and  revivals,  of  confessions  of  sin, 
the  peace  of  forgiveness,  and  the  jubilance  of  Chris- 
tian hope  is  fraught  with  more  sacred  value  than  all 
the  other  pages  in  the  volume  of  time.  The  Sabbath, 
by  reason  of  its  holy  uses,  outranks  all  the  days  de- 
voted to  the  husbandry  of  the  earth,  the  cultivation 
of  science  or  art,  or  to  the  promotion  of  social  and 
political  welfare.  By  its  hallowed  associations  and 
resplendent  promise  it  is  more  worthy  of  universal 
and  sacred  observance  than  the  birthday  of  patriots 
and  heroes,  of  kings  and  empires. 

The  grave  of  poet,  philosopher,  or  patriot,  and  the 
site  of  ancient  temple  or  city,  become  shrines  to 
thoughtful  travellers.     The  histories  associated  with 


HOLY  DAY.  'J'J 

these  localities  consecrate  them  to  the  reverence  of 
succeeding  ages.  With  what  awakened  awe  the  pious 
pagan  visited  altars  consecrated  by  the  faith  and 
prayers  of  his  ancestors,  the  believing  Hebrew  bore 
offerings  to  the  temple  on  Mount  Moriah,  the  devout 
Mussulman  performed  his  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  and 
the  Papal  votary  made  his  confessions,  and  clianted 
his  prayers  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome.  All  places  of 
worship  awaken  a  corresponding  reverence  in  all 
ingenuous  minds. 

But  consecration  of  time  invests  it  with  as  great 
sacredness  as  consecration  of  place.  Holy  times  should 
awaken  as  great  circumspection  as  holy  places.  Re- 
spect for  school  hours,  and  times  set  apart  for  the 
session  of  courts,  is  encouraged.  Any  disturbance  of 
the  quiet  of  such  periods  is  sternly  rebuked.  Much 
more  should  the  rising  generation  be  taught  to  rever- 
ence the  Sabbath-day.  The  noise  of  industry  or  the 
hilarity  of  sensual  pleasures  is  as  foreign  to  the  lofty 
purposes  of  the  Sabbath  as  games  in  a  schoolroom,  or 
athletic  sports  in  the  majestic  presence  of  court  or 
senate.  Those  consecrating  no  Sabbaths  on  the 
ground  that  all  days  are  alike  holy,  are  like  those  Jews 
who  might  refuse  to  offer  required  firstlings  of  their 
flocks  on  the  ground  that  their  entire  flocks  already 
belonged  to  God.  Those  claiming  to  hallow  all  days 
hallow  no  day.  Under  the  plea  of  consecrating  all 
time  they  secularize  all.  Prayer  ceases  where  days  for 
prayer  are  not  appointed.  Religion  dies  out  without 
Sabbaths  ;  and  Sabbaths  profaned  by  secular  callings 
become  holidays.      Those  surrendering    part  of    the 


78  LAW    OF   THE    SABBATH. 

Sabbath  to  toil  or  recreation  soon  yield  it  all,  aban- 
don the  house  of  God,  and  proclaim  all  religion  vain. 
Partial  secularization,  like  the  letting  in  of  waters, 
sweeps  away  all  the  defences  of  holy  time,  and  ostra- 
cizes religion.  Erasing  Heaven's  autograph  from  the 
Sabbath,  effacing  from  it  the  divine  blessing,  and 
devoting  it  to  secular  industries,  amusements,  and 
pleasures,  is  treason  against  the  law  of  God  and  the 
nature  of  man.  It  offends  the  majesty  and  baffles 
the  beneficence  of  Heaven,  and  reduces  his  noblest 
creature    to   a   degrading    bondage    to  the  world. 

Had  the  Sabbath  been  set  apart  for  bodily  rest 
alone,  the  release  from  labor,  as  the  ox  from  its  gall- 
ing yoke,  would  have  secured  the  end  of  the  law,  and 
sleeping,  feasting,  and  sporting  would  be  the  proper 
occupations  for  the  Sabbath.  The  materialistic  phi- 
losophy, valuing  man  only  for  the  endurance  of  his 
muscles,  and  his  capacity  for  manual  labor,  and  ani- 
mal pleasures,  would  give  us  such  a  Sabbath.  Had 
the  Sabbath  been  appointed  mainly  for  intellectual 
and  aesthetic  culture,  the  theatre,  opera,  concert, 
and  lecture  might  be  the  suitable  programme  for 
Sabbath  observance.  But  along  with  bodily  rest  and 
mental  recuperation,  the  Sabbath  attains  the  climax 
of  its  beneficence  in  composing  the  appetites  and  pas- 
sions, and  exalting  the  character  and  destiny  of  man. 
Disproportioned  devotion  to  mental  or  aesthetic  cul- 
ture may  as  signally  defeat  the  ends  of  the  Sabbath 
as  labors  in  field,  shop,  or  counting-house,  or  mere 
animal  rest  and  dissipation.  The  rest  of  the  heart,  in 
the  restoration  of   tlie  affections  to  truth,   duty,  and 


HOLY    DAY. 


79 


God,  and  thus  elevating  the  aims,  hopes,  and  destiny 
of  man,  is  the  true  Sabbath.  The  separation  and 
blessing  set  it  apart  for  moral  rest,  religious  repose, 
and  associated  higher  education.  The  day  was  hal- 
lowed to  assure  the  quiet  and  repose  necessary  to  ab- 
straction from  the  world,  and  devotion  to  the  com- 
plaisant study  of  the  works  and  will  of  God,  and  the 
conformity  of  the  will  and  character  of  the  creature 
to  those  of  the  Creator.  The  quiet  of  the  Sabbath  is 
enforced  to  guard  the  rights  and  promote  the  welfare 
of  all.  The  liberty  of  the  individual  is  surrendered 
to  the  order  and  welfare  of  society.  The  stillness  of 
the  Sabbath  furnishes  an  opportunity  for  all  faiths 
alike  to  celebrate  their  own  worship,  practise  their 
own  discipline,  and  defend  their  own  doctrine.  There 
is  no  more  interference  with  natural  or  personal  lib- 
erty than  in  the  discipline  of  the  school  or  army,  or 
in  the  coercion  of  police  or  of  courts. 

The  consecration  of  the  entire  Sabbath  is  none  too 
great  a  provision  for  rest,  worship,  and  the  proper 
elevation  of  the  aims,  character,  and  sentiments  of 
man.  There  may  be  differences  of  opinion  about  the 
margin  of  Sabbath  occupations,  but  there  should  be 
none  as  it  regards  the  inviolability  of  the  entire  day. 
The  motive  and  method  of  pursuit,  with  the  entire 
interruption  of  week-day  engagements,  may  doubtless 
exalt  to  Christian  virtue  and  homage  what  some 
might  regard  secular  entertainment.  Though  guard- 
ing the  whole  day,  Josephus  says  of  the  pious  Jews, 
"  The  seventh  day  we  set  apart  from  labor  :  it  is  dedi- 
cated to  the  learning  of  our  customs    and  laws,  we 


So  LAW   OF  THE  SABBATH. 

thinking  it  proper  to  reflect  on  them,  as  well  as  any 
good  thing  else,  in  order  to  our  avoiding  of  sin." 
The  teaching  of  the  Sabbath  held  somewhat  the  place 
of  the  modern  public  school  ;  but  morals  and  religion 
were  the  principal  scope  of  their  instruction.  Emi- 
nent Christians  have  been  distinguished  by  their 
scrupulous  observance  of  the  religiousness  of  the  Sab- 
bath. Wilberforce  condemned  even  benevolent  liter- 
ary work  on  the  Sabbath,  as  insidiously  leading  to 
the  secularization  of  the  day,  and  never  truly  success- 
ful. He  tells  us  he  remained  from  church  one  Sab- 
bath to  write  a  letter  to  the  Emperor  Alexander  on 
the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  But  though  the  ob- 
ject was  noble,  and  he  invoked  God's  blessing  upon 
it,  he  felt  a  constraint  which  impeded  the  free  and  un- 
fettered use  of  his  imagination  or  the  intellect ;  "  and 
I  am  sure  that  this  last  week  I  might  have  saved  for 
that  work  four  times  as  much  time  as  I  assigned  to  it 
on  Sunday." 

Captain  Scoresby,  a  distinguished  whaler,  says, 
after  keeping  the  Sabbath,  often  his  ship  gained  ad- 
vantages over  those  vessels  which  broke  the  Sabbath 
on  the  same  seas  and  on  the  ^me  cruise.  He  declares 
these  advantages  have  been  so  marked,  that  all  the 
crew  believed  divine  providence  rewarded  their  hal- 
lowing the  Sabbath.  Our  esteemed  friend  Captain 
Ebenezer  Morgan,  who  followed  the  sea  more  than 
forty  years,  and  gained  successes  awarded  to  few  sea- 
faring men,  gives  the  same  testimony  in  regard  to 
the  feasibility  and  advantages  of  honoring  the  Sab- 
bath over  all  seas  and  on  all  shores. 
6 


HOLY   DAY.  8 1 

A  distinguished  lawyer  wrote  to  a  friend,  "  I  charge 
every  young  lawyer  not  to  do  anything  in  the  business 
of  his  profession  on  the  Sabbath-day.  It  will  injure 
him  and  lessen  his  prospects  for  success.  I  have  tried 
it.  I  do  not  know  how  it  is,  but  there  is  something 
about  it  very  striking.  My  Sabbath  efforts  have  all 
been  failures."  No  occupation  of  body  or  mind  or 
heart,  not  culminating  in  sentiments  and  aspirations 
of  religious  worship,  is  fit  employment  for  the  Sab- 
bath. If  the  continuity  of  worldliness  is  interrupted, 
the  reign  of  selfishness  broken,  good-will  to  men  and 
grateful  praise  to  God  imspired,  the  Sabbath  may  be 
worthily  observed. 

Following  the  example  of  Christ,  we  may  extend 
our  Sabbath  observance  beyond  private  and  public 
prayers,  and  embrace  grateful  studies  of  the  works 
and  providence  of  God,  teaching  the  ignorant  the 
word  and  will  of  God,  dispensing  charity  to  the  poor, 
relieving  the  suffering,  and  visiting  the  widow  and 
the  fatherless.  With  Christian  spirit  and  Christian 
use  of  the  Sabbath,  the  whole  of  life  may  become  a 
stewardship  and  homage  to  God.  The  Sabbath  has 
been  beautifully  described  as  "  the  smile  ofjcjxation," 
but  its  brightness  beams  only  on  the  upturned  coun- 
tenance of  piety,  casting  not  a  single  holy  ray  upon 
the  prone  face  of  worldliness. 


PART  II. 
PROMISE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 


Body. 

**  How  still  the  morning  of  the  hallowed  day  ! 
Mute  is  the  voice  of  rural  labor,  hushed 
The  ploughboy's  whistle  and  the  milkmaid's  song." 

Since  the  Fall  a  blight  has  rested  upon  body  as  well 
as  mind  and  heart  of  man.  Through  unremitted  toil, 
the  eye  is  dimmed,  the  ear  dulled,  the  limb  stiffened, 
the  brow  seamed  with  care,  and  the  whole  body  sinks 
beneath  its  burdens.  Disabilities  are  entailed  upon 
the  next  generation,  and  the  race  falls  into  decay. 
How  far  below  the  ideal  father  of  mankind  is  the 
prone,  frail,  and  stunted  form  of  the  averaged  man  ! 
In  some  parts  of  the  globe  he  has  deteriorated  in  fig-, 
ure  and  features,  as  in  mental  and  moral  habitudes, 
almost  to  the  condition  of  lower  animals.  An  orien- 
tal legend  tells  that  when  Solomon. was  on  his  way  to 
visit  the  Queen  of  Sheba  he  came  to  a  valley  in  which 
dwelt  a  peculiar  species  of  monkey.  Upon  inquir- 
ing into  their  history,  he  found   that  they  were  the 


BODY.  83 


posterity  of  a  colony  of  Jews,  who,  settling  in  that 
region  many  years  before,  had  by  habitually  profan- 
ing the  Sabbath  degenerated  into  the  brutes  he  found 
them.  Even  in  civilized  lands,  through  excess  of 
labor,  oppression,  and  vice,  large  classes  have  lost  the 
crown  of  physical  manhood.  No  more  effectual  bar- 
rier to  this  degeneracy  can  be  raised  than  the  sacred 
observance  of  the  Sabbath. 

Release  from  the  strain  of  toil  rests  and  recuper- 
ates every  muscle  and  nerve,  cures  incipient  disorder 
of  limb  or  organ,  and  makes  the  whole  body  lithe 
and  vigorous  for  service.  The  mental  exhilaration 
arising  from  suspension  of  toil  is  naturally  expressed 
in  brighter  features  and  more  erect  and  manly 
bearing. 

Besides,  the  moral  impulse  of  the  Sabbath  gives 
beauty  to  the  countenance;  grace,  dignity,  and  force 
to  every  motion  ;  and  by  harmonizing  the  passions, 
perfects  and  adorns  the  body.  The  successful  train- 
ing of  the  athlete  gives  promise  of  the  physical  per- 
fection of  man.  If  so  great  speed  or  strength  is 
gained  by  careful  discipline,  what  limit  can  be  as- 
signed to  the  amelioration  of  physical  manhood  ? 
The  artist,  shaping  his  Apollo  Belvidere  in  marble, 
utters  a  prophecy  of  the  physical  regeneration  of  the 
race,  promised  in  the  triumph  of  Christianity.  Man- 
kind do  not  live  out  half  their  days.  Cemeteries  are 
filled  with  those  hastening,  unbidden  by  the  voice  of 
Nature,  to  the  grave.  Lamentation  rises  over  every 
land,  where  only  joy  and  gladness  should  be  heard. 

The  scheme  of  the  French  philosopher  to  secure  by 


84  PROMISE   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

proper  training  the  immortality  upon  earth  of  the 
generation  to  come  is  a  pleasing  dream,  but  much 
remains  that  can  be  done  to  prolong  the  life  and  in- 
crease the  happiness  of  the  inhabitants  of  earth.  The 
following  testimony  proves  that  Sabbath  rest  is  the 
much-sought  panacea  : 

Before  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  1832, 
Dr.  Farre  said,  ^'  Although  the  night  apparently  equal- 
izes the  circulation,  yet  it  does  not  sufficiently  restore 
the  balance  for  the  attainment  of  a  long  life  ;  hence 
one  day  in  seven,  by  the  bounty  of  Providence,  to 
perfect,  by  its  repose,  the  animal  system."  Experts 
testify  that  a  stage  horse  endures  longer  driven  twelve 
miles  a  day  for  six  days,  resting  the  seventh,  than 
driven  ten  miles  a  day  without  the  Sabbath  rest. 
Rev.  H.  L.  Hastings  says,  "I  recollect  hearing  Lord 
Shaftesbury  speak  in  London  of  attending  a  coster- 
mongers'  exhibition  of  the  donkeys  with  which  they 
drag  about  their  little  barrows  of  provisions  and 
merchandise.  He  said  there  were  fifty  donkeys  ex- 
hibited, looking  as. sleek  and  beautiful  as  if  they  had 
come  out  of  the  Queen's  stables  ;  and  the  men  told 
him,  without  his  asking  them,  that  every  one  of  the 
donkeys  had  each  week  twenty-four  hours  of  rest ; 
and  as  a  consequence,  they  could  travel  thirty  miles  a, 
day,  with  their  loads,  for  six  days  in  a  week,  while 
donkeys  which  were  driven  seven  days  in  the  week 
could  not  travel  more  than  fifteen  miles.  Hence  the 
beneficence  of  embracing  beasts  of  burden  as  well  as 
servants  and  strangers  in  the  benefits  of  the  Sabbath 
law. 


BODY.  85 

M.  Villerne  declares  that  the  portion  of  the  French 
population  which  enjoys  even  casual  interruptions  of 
labor  live  an  average  of  twelve  years  longer  than 
those  who  know  no  cessation  from  toil.  Statistics 
of  mortality  in  England  show  a  corresponding  advan- 
tage to  those  enjoying  various  respite  from  labor. 
Besides,  uninterrupted  toil  promotes  other  conditions 
of  physical  decay — uncleanliness,  bad  air,  and  social 
vices.  By  promoting  weekly  ablutions  and  change 
of  dress  the  Sabbath  is  a  sanitary  measure  of  unsus- 
pected importance.  Jorgenson,  in  his  travels  through 
France  after  the  abrogation  of  the  Sabbath,  says, 
"  The  moroseness  occasioned  by  the  want  of  a  Sabbath 
has  an  effect  on  the  cleanliness  of  young  men  en- 
gaged in  manual  labor :  they  pursue  their  daily 
drudgery  in  their  dirty  working-dresses,  and  habit 
renders  them  at  length  averse  to  a  change  of  linen 
and  clothes."  The  frequent  and  regular  recurrence 
of  a  Sabbath  rest  makes  these  needed  personal  atten- 
tions easy  and  habitual,  and  thus  tones  up  character, 
reduces  life  to  order,  renders  it  healthful,  and  adorns 
it  with  beauty.  More  than  six  hundred  medical  men 
of  London  petitioned  Parliament  against  opening 
Crystal  Palace  on  Sundays,  as  menacing  the  hygienic 
uses  of  the  Sabbath.  Dr.  Mussy  of  Ohio  declares, 
*'  Under  the  due  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  life  would, 
on  an  average  be  prolonged  more  than  one  seventh 
of  its  whole  period  ;  that  is,  more  than  seven  years  in 
fifty.  A  large  contractor  found  by  working  men  and 
teams  Sundays,  both  sickened,  and  his  work  was  de- 
layed.     Experience  has  shown  that  all  branches  of 


86  PROMISE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

industry  in  the  long-run  fall  off  in  quantity  and 
quality  of  work  by  adding  the  Sabbath  to  the  week 
of  toil.  Dispensing  with  the  Sabbath  rest,  laborers 
lose  bodily  vigor  and  become  demoralized. 

Says  an  intelligent  laboring  man,  author  of  a  prize 
essay  on  the  Sabbath, ''  On  more  than  one  occasion  he 
has  found  that  continued  application  to  labor  during 
six  days  in  the  busy  season,  and  consequent  long 
hours,  was  more  than  his  constitution  would  bear ; 
and  if  he  had  attempted  to  dispense  with  the  re- 
laxation of  the  Sabbath,  he  should  long  since,  he 
firmly  believed,  have  retired  to  the  rest  and  silence 
of  the  grave."  Dr.  Brooks  of  California  says  in  ref- 
erence to  his  w^orking  mines,  "  We  have  all  of  us  given 
up  working  on  Sundays,  as  we  found  the  toil  of  six 
successive  days  quite  hard  enough.  I  believe  the 
Sabbath  is  an  institution  physically  necessary." 
Says  another  profound  thinker,  "Were  man  nothing 
more  than  an  animal,  and  were  his  existence  to  be 
confined  to  this  world,  it  would  be  for  his  interest  to 
observe  the  Sabbath." 

The  spring  dissipating  the  dreary  aspects  of  win- 
ter, or  the  rising  sun  dispersing  the  gloom  of  night 
and  gilding  earth  and  heaven  with  glory,  are  not  more 
real  if  more  palpable  benedictions  to  earth  than  the 
smile,  peace,  and  promise  of  the  holy  Sabbath  to  toil- 
ing and  sorrowing  humanity.  But  this  primitive 
hygienic  law  can  be  retained  only  by  the  authority 
and  sanction  of  divine  appointment.  As  liberty  has 
been  maintained  only  by  the  prestige  of  divine  right, 
original    charters,  and    inviolable   constitutions  ;    so 


BODY.  87 

this  inviolate  Sabbath  rest  can  be  defended  only  by- 
pleading  inalienable  rights  of  man,  and  constitu- 
tional and  divine  law.  Grasping  avarice  will  buy- 
up  this  right  and  rest  of  the  poor,  giving  no  more 
for  seven  than  for  six  days'  work,  unless  prohibited  by 
both  human  and  divine  law.  If  the  day  is  merely 
a  civil  or  ecclesiastical  appointment,  the  masses  will 
surrender  it  for  wages — as  they  would  the  family  for 
their  passions  if  the  primitive  irrepealable  law  of  Na- 
ture did  not  guard  it.  Only  a  divine  Sabbath  can  be 
preserved  for  mental,  moral,  or  bodily  rest  of  man- 
kind. 


n. 

Mind. 

"Not  to  know  at  large  of  things  remote 
From  use,  obscure  and  subtle,  but  to  know 
That  which  before  us  lies  in  daily  life, 
Is  the  prime  wisdom." 

A  SENSE  of  God  and  of  a  spiritual  world  is  an 
ever-recurring  intellectual  impulse,  revealing,  com- 
pleting, and  celebrating  man's  likeness  to  bis  Crea- 
tor. A  day  commemorating  and  glorifying  the  being 
and  providence  of  God  must  Uherefore  quicken,  clari- 
fy, and  enlarge  spiritual  sensibilities,  and  invigorate 
all  the  mental  faculties.  Its  dawn  summons  the 
thoughtless  and  distracted  race  to  the  attention  and 
decorum  of  a  school,  intent  upon  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge.  Its  holy  assemblies,  public  instruction, 
and  inspiring  examples  quicken  the  dormant  faculties 
of  the  most  stolid,  and  exalt  the  range  of  tliought  and 
imagination  of  the  most  gifted.  The  Sabbath  is  a 
compulsory  school  period  for  the  world.  States  are 
deemed  wise  in  enforcing  the  education  of  her  citi- 
zens. The  Supreme  Ruler  anticipated  such  specific 
and  local  enactments  by  a  universal  law.  Without 
honoring  this  divine  school-period  no  secular  educa- 
tion has  proved   a  success  ;   with    its  scrupulous  ob- 


MIND.  89 

servance  none  will  prove  a  failure.  While  it  is  main- 
tained, education  will  never  become  the  monopoly  of 
the  few,  as  no  class  will  be  deprived  of  the  highest 
and  most  beneficent  culture.  The  light  of  divine 
knowledge  shines  on  the  lowly  as  the  sun  upon  all 
habitations  of  earth  alike. 

**The  wish  to  know — that  endless  thirst, 
Which  even  by  quenching  is  awaked, 
And  which  becomes,  or  blest,  or  curst. 
As  is  the  font  whereat  'tis  slaked." 

Enforced  physical  rest  not  only  assures  the  neces- 
j  sary  opportunities  for  intellectual  improvement,  but 
brightens  the  mental  faculties  for  any  investigation 
or  special  study.  Moral  repose  also  gives  vigor  and 
equipoise  to  reason,  and  assures  the  wisdom  and  prac- 
tical value  of  its  conclusions.  Minds  disordered  by 
the  lower  passions  may  exhaust  themselves  by  specu- 
lations brilliant  as  they  are  vain,  but  can  never 
herald  or  adorn  true  social  progress.  The  light  of 
genius  is  often  quenched  in  the  dissipations  of  a  thea- 
tre, pot-house,  or  lower  abode  of  infamy  ;  while  mod- 
erate endowment,  through  Sabbath  observance  and 
consequent  virtuous  pursuit,  attains  distinction,  pub- 
lic trusts,  and  the  greatest  prizes  of  life.  No  Sab- 
bath-observing person  or  people  relapses  into  the 
darkness,  discontent,  and  vulgarity  of  general  illiter- 
acy. The  Sabbath  is  a  more  effectual  provision  and 
guaranty  of  general  intelligence  and  refinement  than 
public  school,  scientific  institute,  or  free  library. 

Sabbatarians  are  always  men  of  more  thought,  con- 


go  PROMISE    OF   THE   SABBATH. 

viction,  and  practical  information  than  desecrators  of 
the  Sabbath  of  the  same  talents  and  opportunities. 
By  celebrating  the  doctrine  of  creation  the  Sabbath 
proclaims  idealism  against  materialism,  and  magnifies 
the  grandeur  of  thought  and  the  empire  of  mind. 

In  keeping  it  man  becomes  more  intensely  con- 
scious of  his  spiritual  nature  and  immortality,  and 
rises  in  his  motives,  aims,  aspirations,  and  attain- 
ments to  a  corresponding  dignity  and  destiny.  The 
knowledge  and  conscious  companionship  of  heaven 
must  greaten  the  character  and  career  of  man  on  the 
earth.  Sinking  the  holy  day  to  mere  animal  rest 
animalizes  the  race.  Resting  as  ox  or  ass  from  ma- 
terial burdens,  or  sporting  merely  as  bird  singing  in 
its  bowers,  or  lamb  skipping  over  lawn,  or  resting  in 
a  grateful  shade  from  sultry  noon,  may  not  elevate 
thought,  sentiment,  intellectual  aspirations,  attain- 
ments, or  enjoyments  of  the  race.  Only  the  original, 
holy  Sabbath,  rising  in  all  its  rest  and  observance  to 
the  homage  and  jubilance  of  religious  worship,  in- 
sures mental  culture  as  well  as  moral  character. 

"A  good  mind  is  a  kingdom  in  itself,  it  is  true; 
but  there  is  no  mind  truly  good  but  that  wherein 
Christ  dwells. "  Testimonies  to  the  intellectual  stimu- 
lus of  weekly  rest  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely. 

Dr.  Carpenter,  at  the  head  of  physiologists,  says, 
"  My  own  experience  is  very  strong  as  to  the  import- 
ance of  the  complete  rest  and  change  of  thought  once 
a  week." 

Thomas  Sewall,  Professor  of  Pathology  and  the 
Practice  of  Medicine  in  the  Columbian  College,  Wash- 


MIND.  91 

ington,  D.  C,  says,  *' While  I  consider  it  the  more 
important  design  of  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath  to 
assist  in  religious  devotion  and  advance  men's  spiri- 
tual welfare,  I  have  long  held  the  opinion  that  one 
of  its  chief  benefits  has  reference  to  his  physical  and 
intellectual  constitution  ;  affording  him  as  it  does 
one  day  in  seven  for  the  renovation  of  his  exhausted 
energies  of  body  and  of  mind — a  portion  of  time  small 
enough,  according  to  the  results  of  my  observation, 
for  the  accomplishment  of  this  oDject.  ...  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  declaring  it  is  my  opinion,  that  if  the 
Sabbath  were  universally  observed  as  a  day  of  devo- 
tion and  of  rest  from  secular  occupations,  far  more 
work  of  body  and  of  mind  would  be  accomplished, 
and  be  better  done  ;  more  health  would  be  enjoyed, 
with  more  wealth  and  independence,  and  we  should 
have  far  less  of  crime  and  poverty  and  suffering." 

Wilkie  the  painter  said,  "Those  artists  who  wrought 
on  Sunday  were  soon  disqualified  from  working  at 
all." 

A  gentleman  of  large  observation  gave  as  the  result 
of  his  inquiries,  "We  never  knew  a  man  work  seven 
days  a  week  who  did  not  kill  himself  or  kill  his 
mind." 

,  Addison,  in  his  "  Spectator"  says,  "  If  keeping  holy 
the  seventh  day  were  only  a  human  institution,  it 
would  be  the  best  method  that  could  have  been 
thought  of   for  polishing  and  civilizing  mankind." 

Burke  says,  "  They  who  always  work  can  have  no 
true  judgment :  they  exhaust  their  attention,  burn 
out  their  candles,  and  are  left  in  the  dark." 


92  PROMISE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

Coleridge  says,  ''  I  feel  as  if  God  by  giving  the 
Sabbath  has  given  fifty-two  springs  in  the  year." 
Isaac  Taylor  says,  "  I  am  prepared  to  affirm  to  the 
studious  especially,  and  whether  younger  or  older,  a 
Sabbath  well  spent  in  happy  exercises  of  the  heart, 
devotional  and  domestic, — Sunday  given  to  the  soul, 
— is  the  best  of  all  refreshments  to  the  intellect." 
Gladstone,  the  greatest  and  most  industrious  of  Eng- 
land's statesmen,  in  accounting  for  his  robust  health, 
said  recently,  "I  never  do  and  never  have  done  a  stroke 
of  work  on  Sunday." 

Paley,  referring  to  the  analogy  between  the  nightly 
and  the  Sabbath  rest,  says,  ^'  Two  points  are  manifest  : 
first,  that  the  animal  frame  requires  sleep ;  secondly, 
that  the  night  brings  with  it  silence,  and  cessation  of 
activity,  which  allows  of  sleep  being  taken  without 
interruption  and  without  loss.  .  .  .  But  what  the  rest 
of  sleep  is  to  the  body  the  Sabbath  is  to  the  soul." 
Wilberforce  observed,  "  He  never  could  have  sus- 
tained the  labor  and  stretch  of  mind  required  in  his 
early  political  career  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  Sab- 
bath." Major-General  Anderson,  of  large  military 
experience,  especially  in  the  Crimean  War,  declared, 
"  But  for  the  Sabbath,  he  would  have  sunk  under  the 
incessant  toil  and  care  of  the  service."  Dr.  Farre 
says,  *'I  have  found  it  essential  to  my  well-being  to 
abridge  my  labors  on  the  Sabbath  to  what  is  actually 
necessary."  No  Sabbath-keeping  people  have  long 
remained  illiterate,  or  been  dominated  by  foreign 
rule.  In  what  modern  nation  have  the  humbler 
classes  attained  greater  cleverness  and  sagacity,  or 


HOME.  93 

the  higher  ranks  attained  greater  intellectual  pene- 
tration and  grasp,  than  the  Scotch,  from  the  time 
of  Eustachius  and  Knox,  keeping  the  Sabbath  over 
heath  and  highland,  rural  district  and  populous  city, 
with  more  scruple  than  any  other  nation  of  Europe? 
A  people  without  the  Sabbath  rest  are  not  only  en- 
slaved by  toil,  but  enfeebled  by  unrelieved  cares  and 
wasting  anxieties.  They  lose  the  strength  of  repose, 
and  fall  into  the  rut  of  feeble  or  inconclusive  thought. 
The  brain  is  wearied  by  fruitless  toil,  and  mental  ac- 
tivity is  abridged,  and  life  prematurely  ended.  Fifty- 
two  days  in  a  year  devoted  to  the  most  profound  and 
practical  questions  of  being  must  invigorate  mind, 
clarify  the  understanding,  enlarge  the  scope  of  imagi- 
nation, and  transfigure  life  with  intellectual  splendor. 


III. 

Home. 

"The  couch  of  time,  care's  balm  and  bay  ; 
The  week  were  dark  but  for  thy  light : 
Thy  torch  doth  show  the  way." 

The  family  is  the  most  available  and  beneficent 
provision  for  the  solidarity  of  mankind.  Its  disci- 
pline is  the  highest  training  for  obedience  and  loyalty 
to  the  State.  Its  amenities  and  fellowship  anticipate 
and  prepare  for  the  pure  and  ennobling  pleasures 
of  society.  The  veneration  for  parental  authority 
rises  through  natural  gradation  to  the  worship  of  the 
Universal  Father. 

The  Sabbath  promotes  the  discipline  of  the  family 
by  providing  a  stated  opportunity  for  its  reunion  and 
fellowship.  Domestic  happiness  is  the  only  bliss  left 
by  the  Fall  in  undimmed  brightness,  assured  peace, 
and  triumphant  joy.  But  the  hurried  pursuits,  forced 
separations,  and  brief  reunions  of  the  week  allow 
no  adequate  opportunity  for  endearing  social  inter- 
course. Often  members  of  the  household  are  absent 
all  the  six  days  of  toil.  Or  they  leave  the  paternal 
roof  so  early  in  the  morning  and  return  so  late  at 
evening  as  to  be  scarcely  able  to  exchange  affection- 
ate salutations.     Through  all   the  weary  days  of  the 


HOME.  95 

week  they  do  not  sit  down  together  to  a  family  meal, 
or  pour  out  their  hearts  in  reciprocal  love  and  de- 
lightful converse.  Domestic  affections  are  starved  by 
these  unnatural  obstructions. 

They  wait  with  longing  expectation  for  their  Sab- 
bath jubilee.  How  joyous  at  the  end  of  the  week's 
separations,  toils,  and  cares  the  fond  embrace  of  par- 
ents, the  endearing  attentions  of  brothers  and  sisters, 
and  the  blessed  freedom  and  peace  of  home  ! 

The  Sabbath  further  promotes  the  discipline  of 
home  by  assuring  opportunity  for  the  primary  and 
most  important  education  of  the  race.  Before  the 
public  school,  the  Sunday-school,  or  the  Church,  this 
provision  for  education  is  enjoyed.  No  class  of  teach- 
ers are  so  much  interested  in  the  improvement  of 
their  pupils,  or  so  patient  and  painstaking  in  impart- 
ing instruction,  as  parents.  And  no  waifs  of  the 
streets,  no  habitue's  of  factories,  are  so  abandoned  to 
ignorance  and  mental  waste  but  a  wary  parental  use 
of  the  Sabbath  hours  might  not  redeem  them  to 
thought  and  intelligence.  Any  teaching  which  would 
recover  childhood  to  mental  consciousness,  and  abil- 
ity to  read  and  reflect,  may  be  in  the  highest  sense  a 
"work  of  necessity  and  mercy."  How  many  lessons 
of  life  and  duty  may  be  learned  at  the  knee  of  the 
most  illiterate  mother  on  the  most  remote  frontier, 
where  no  school  is  opened  and  no  teacher  is  abroad  ! 
The  race  can  never  be  wholly  illiterate  while  parents 
love  their  children  and  have  the  consecrated  leisure 
of  the  Sabbath  for  instructing  them.  Those  who 
have  received  the  rudiments  of  education  from  the 


96  PROMISE   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

schools  by  a  faithful  use  of  the  Sabbath  leisure  in 
elevated  reading  will  widen  and  perfect  their  culture, 
and  may  even  rise  to  the  rank  of  the  learned. 

Moreover,  the  Sabbath  exalts  the  home  by  securing 
to  it  the  necessary  opportunity  for  spiritual  culture. 
Parents  constitute  the  first  and  most  important  priest- 
hood. For  years,  and  during  the  most  impressible 
period  of  life,  they  are  as  gods  to  their  children — the 
supreme  oracle  of  wisdom,  and  the  only  source  of  au- 
thority. How  convincing  their  teaching  !  How  per- 
suasive their  example  !  How  majestic  their  authority  ! 
The  order  to  the  Hebrews  to  train  up  their  children 
in  the  ways  of  virtue  and  piety  is  the  unrepealed 
order  of  Nature. 

Parents  cannot  delegate  their  duty  to  priests, 
Sunday-schools,  or  churches.  And  the  greatest  reli- 
gious forces  still  operate  through  family  discipline  ; 
and  never  till  the  home  is  exalted  in  moral  and 
spiritual  character  can  the  world  be  Christianized. 
Perhaps  nothing  in  literature  is  moie  suggestive  of 
the  philosophy  and  promise  of  family  religious  dis- 
cipline than  Burns'  ''Cotter's  Saturday  Night:" 

"  The  evening  supper  done,  wi'  serious  face 
They  round  the  ingle  form  a  circle  wide  ; 
The  sire  turns  o'er  with  patriarchal  grace 

The  big  ha'  Bible,  ance  his  father's  pride  ; 
His  bonnet  reverently  is  laid  aside, 

His  lyart  haffets  wearing  thin  and  bare  ; 
Those  strains  that  once  did  sweet  in  Zion  glide 
He  wales  a  portion  with  judicious  care  ; 
And  '  Let  us  worship  God  !  '  he  says  with  solemn  air. 


HOME.  97 

"Then  kneeling  down  to  Heaven's  Eternal  King, 
The  saint,  the  father,  and  the  husband  prays : 
Hope  springs  exulting  on  triumphant  wing, 

That  thus  they  all  shall  meet  in  future  days: 
There  ever  bask  in  uncreated  rays, 

No  more  to  sigh,  or  shed  the  bitter  tear, 
Together  hymning  their  Creator's  praise, 
In  such  society,  yet  still  more  dear  ; 
While  circling  lime  moves  round  in  an  eternal  sphere." 

How  inspiring  the  thought  that  in  many  a  "  cottage 
far  apart" — 

"  God  may  hear,  well  pleased,  the  language  of  the  soul, 
And  in  His  book  of  life  their  inmates  poor  enroll  !" 

But  there  were  no  "  Cotter's  Saturday  Night"  but 
for  the  Sabbath  rest.  This  picture  of  domestic  piety 
is  but  a  foregleam  of  the  broader,  brighter  benediction 
of  the  Sabbath  upon  the  homes  of  earth.  They  are 
transfigured  by  the  radiance  of  the  holy  day.  Parents 
rise  to  a  higher  sense  of  obligations.  Children  feel  a 
profounder  sense  of  duty  and  gratitude  ;  and  through 
this  primary  social  order  mankind  rise  in  culture 
character,  and  happiness. 

As  reviews  of  armies  foster  military  enthusiasm 
and  promote  military  discipline,  so  the  sacred  pageant 
of  the  assembly  in  the  house  of  prayer  must  inflame 
the  ardor  of  social  worship,  and  promote  a  higher 
spiritual  discipline  in  the  separate  families  of  the 
land.  As  the  drill  of  one  division  of  an  army  pro- 
vokes emulation  in  all  other  divisions,  so  the  ob- 
served discipline  and  order  of  one  family  excites  a 
holy  emulation  in  a  score  of  homes.     Or  as  school  ex- 


98  PROMISE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

aminations  elevate  the  standard  and  awaken  the  en- 
thusiasm of  general  culture,  so  families  assembled 
in  the  same  house  of  prayer,  listening  to  the  same 
holy  commandments  and  promises,  and  joining  in  the 
same  prayers  and  spiritual  songs,  promote  in  each 
other  intenser  religious  conviction,  and  a  more  rigor- 
ous religious  discipline.  Families  under  religious 
discipline  have  attained  higher  social  virtues  and  hap- 
piness than  those  hallowing  no  Sabbath  and  attend- 
ing no  house  of  prayer.  Compare  the  homes  of  the 
lowest  class  of  Sabbatarians  with  those  of  the  habit- 
ues of  porter-house  or  play-house.  Compare  the 
homes  of  fashionable  worldlings  with  those  of  cul- 
tured Puritans  like  Owen,  Howe,  Charnock,  Bates, 
Baxter,  Wilberforce,  and  Mackintosh.  The  content- 
ment, peace,  and  joy  of  pious  Sabbath-keeping  fami- 
lies are  like  the  flowing  of  a  deep  river  ;  those  of  god- 
less neglecters  of  the  day  are  like  the  noisy  and  swol- 
len torrent,  soon  running  dry. 

Baron  Augustine  Cauchy,  a  member  of  the  French 
Institute,  says,  "Whenever  a  nation  fails  to  keep  this 
commandment  Christianity  ceases  to  exist.  There 
would  then  be  an  end  to  domestic  life,  to  faniily  ties; 
and  civilization  would  soon  be  succeeded  by  barbar- 
ism." Edwards  says,  "A  peculiar  blessing  may  be 
expected  upon  those  families  where  there  is  due  care 
taken  that  the  Sabbath  be  strictly  observed."  The 
Puritan  Recorder  presents  an  instructive  contrast  in 
the  history  of  a  Sabbatarian  and  an  anti-Sabbatarian 
neighborhood  in  New  Hampshire.  The  latter,  located 
nearer  church,  wholly  neglected  it,  and   gave  them- 


HOME. 


99 


selves  up  to  festivities  and  amusements.  In  the  course 
of  years  five  of  the  six  families  were  broken  up  by 
the  separation  of  husband  and  wife,  and  the  sixth  by 
the  father  fleeing  from  justice.  Eight  or  more  of  the 
parents  became  drunkards.  One  committed  suicide, 
and  nearly  all  eventually  lacked  bread.  Of  more 
than  forty  of  the  descendants,  about  twenty  became 
jockeys,  gamblers,  or  drunkards.  Four  or  five  spent 
years  in  prison,  and  one  fell  in  a  duel.  Only  one  in 
the  whole  number  is  known  to  have  made  Christian 
profession  ;  and  he  obtained  a  competency,  and  en- 
joyed the  confidence  of  his  neighbors.  The  five  fam- 
ilies of  the  other  neigfiborhood,  though  living  farther 
from  church,'  were  always  seen  on  Sunday,  in  wagons 
or  on  foot,  on  their  way  to  the  house  of  God.  They 
all  lived  in  peace  and  thrift.  Their  descendants  have 
increased  to  two  or  three  hundred.  Eight  tenths  of 
their  children  joined  the  church.  Only  one  has  be- 
come intemperate,  and  only  one  committed  any  scan- 
dalous crime.  No  one  has  become  a  pauper  ;  and 
their  homesteads  are  now  in  the  hands  of  the  third 
generation.  They  have  founded  a  successful  colony 
in  a  Western  State,  distinguished  for  industry,  intelli- 
gence, and  virtue.  God  "  blesses  the  habitations  of 
the  just,"  while  "pouring  out  His  fury  upon  those 
that  call  not  upon  His  name." 

A  friend  gives  the  story  of  ten  families  in  a  small 
town  where  he  spent  his  school-days.  Some  of  them 
were  prominent  in  business,  social  life,  and  politics  ; 
others  of  them  were  less  known.  But  in  none  of  them 
was  God  honored  ;  and  a  majority  of  their  sons  fill 


100  PROMISE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

untimely  graves,  and  not  one  of  those  now  living  has 
attained  honorable  distinction.  There  were  four  bro- 
thers in  the  town,  whose  father  was  a  rich  merchant, 
and  member  of  the  legislature.  The  youngest  a  few 
years  ago  was  found  one  morning  dead  at  his 
mother's  gate  ;  another  committed  suicide  ;  another 
from  fast  life  died  before  he  was  forty  years  old  ;  and 
the  last,  still  living,  has  a  bad  reputation. 

In  contrast  with  this  record  of  impiety  were  fifteen 
Sabbath-keeping  families  in  the  same  community. 
With  but  few  exceptions,  their  sons  are  now  the  mer- 
chants, manufacturers,  lawyers,  physicians,  and  legis- 
lators of  the  city  ;  four  of  them  have  become  preach- 
of  the  Gospel ;  and  several  of  them  have  gained 
homes  and  honorable  social  and  religious  standing  in 
other  communities. 


IV. 

The  State. 

**  With  silent  awe  we  hail  the  sacred  morn, 

That  scarcely  wakes  when  all  the  fields  are  still ; 
A  soothing  calm  on  every  breeze  is  borne, 

A  graver  murmur  gurgles  from  the  rill, 
And  echo  answers  from  the  hill ; 

And  softer  sings  the  linnet  from  her  thorn, 
The  skylark  warbles  in  a  tone  less  shrill. 

Hail,  light  serene  !  hail,  sacred  Sabbath  morn  !" 

Civil  society  is  based  on  subjection  to  law.  That 
sovereignty  may  be  vested  in  patriarchate,  tribal 
chief,  order  of  nobility,  political  league,  hereditary 
monarchy,  or  in  elective  magistracy.  Whatever  the 
form  of  institution,  it  is  supreme  in  its  sphere.  It 
arrests  the  attention  and  compels  the  obedience  of  all. 
The  return  of  the  Sabbath  with  the  prestige  of  a 
higher  authority,  overruling  the  freedom  and  custo- 
nrary  pursuits  of  men,  awakens  the  spirit  of  obedience, 
inspires  reverence  for  constituted  authority,  and 
heralds  through  the  earth  a  reign  of  law.  A  nomad 
arrested  by  no  metes  and  bounds  to  his  vagrant  life 
never  becomes  a  citizen.  Enforcing  a  Sabbath  re- 
duces life  to  system  and  summons  all  mankind  to  the 
discipline    of    states,  empires,    or    republics.     In    the 


102  PROMISE  OF  THE   SABBATM. 

measure  of  Sabbath  observance  communities  will  be- 
come law-abiding.  In  proportion  to  the  neglect  or 
laxity  of  its  observance  social  disorder,  crime,  and 
anarchy  prevail.  Obeying  this  august  and  most 
beneficent  divine  law,  mankind  will  obey  righteous 
human  laws,  and  usher  in  a  political  millennium. 

But  in  addition  to  loyalty  to  just  authority,  the 
Sabbath  inspires  a  sense  of  personal  liberty  which 
spurns  unjust  laws  and  projects  freer  institutions. 
The  most  scrupulous  service  of  God  emancipates  from 
all  bondage  to  men.  Divine  law  limits  human  law, 
and  arms  man  with  courage  to  resist  all  political  des- 
potism. He  feels  the  state  cannot  violate  his  natural 
and  inalienable  rights.  A  Roman  citizen  feared  no 
arrest  of  provincial  governor  or  barbarian  king. 
One  rising  to  the  dignity  of  his  divinely  crowned 
manhood  maintains  his  freedom  against  tyrannical 
governments,  frees  himself,  and  champions  the  free- 
dom of  others. 

The  Sabbath  summons  a  review  of  states  and  em- 
pires in  the  august  presence  of  the  Supreme  Ruler. 
National  and  international  laws  are  revised  amid  the 
moral  radiance  diffused  by  the  holy  day.  The  Bible, 
the  world's  Magna  Charta,  is  expounded  in  the  ears 
of  the  people,  and  its  provisions  insisted  upon  with 
more  unanimity  and  emphasis.  Sabbatarians  have 
never  been  long  oppressed.  They  have  always  and 
everywhere  achieved  liberty.  Rights  demanded 
every  Sabbath  in  the  name  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  will 
at  length  be  yielded.  The  Sabbath  is  a  covenant  of 
civil  as  well  as  of  religious   liberty.     It  is  a  jubilee  of 


THE  STATE.  IO3 

universal  political  and  social  emancipation.  It  is  a 
sacred  foundation  for  every  true  state. 

It  is  a  primitive  and  universal  democratic  law. 
Adam  Smith  declares,  "The  Sabbath,  as  a  political 
institution,  is  of  inestimable  value  independently  of 
its  claims  to  divine  authority." 

Blackstone  says,  "  The  keeping  one  day  in  seven 
holy,  as  time  of  relaxation  and  refreshment,  as  well 
as  for  public  worship,  is  of  admirable  service  to  a 
state,  considered  merely  as  a  civil  institution.  It 
humanizes,  by  the  help  of  conversation  and  society 
the  manners  of  the  lower  classes,  which  would  other- 
wise degenerate  into  a  sordid  ferocity  and  savage 
selfishness  of  spirit.  It  enables  the  industrious 
workman  to  pursue  his  occupation  in  the  ensuing 
week  with  health  and  cheerfulness  ;  it  imprints  on 
the  minds  of  the  people  that  sense  of  their  duty  to 
God,  so  necessary  to  make  them  good  citizens,  but 
which  yet  would  be  worn  out  and  effaced  by  an  unre- 
mitted continuance  of  labor  without  any  stated  times 
of  recalling  them  to  the  worship  of  their  Maker."  As 
attesting  this  conservative  influence  of  the  Sabbath — 
while  Scotland,  the  greatest  Sabbatarian  country  in 
the  world,  has  required  1800  soldiers  to  keep  the 
peace,  Ireland  for  the  same  periods,  substituting  a 
holiday  for  the  holy  day,  required  25,000  armed  meia 
to  maintain  law  and  order. 

Montalembert,  in  a  report  to  the  French  Parliament 
on  Sabbath  observance,  reminds  them  that  "while 
Paris  without  a  Sabbath  requires  50,000  men  to  pre- 
serve order,  London,  with  its  much  larger  population. 


104  PROMISE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

trusts  its  peace  to  three  battalions  of  infantry  and 
some  troops  of  Guards,  with  the  help  of  a  strict  Sab- 
bath observance."  All  Sabbatarian  states  have 
gained  larger  wealth,  liberty,  culture,  and  stability 
than  nations  abrogating  the  Sabbath  or  turning  it 
into  a  holiday.  New  England  has  produced  more 
wealth,  culture,  and  heroic  manhood  from  her  sterile 
soil  than  any  Sabbath-breaking  land  of  equal  extent, 
Laperle,  the  richest  community  in  the  old  Dutch 
colony  north  of  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  was  settled  by 
the  Sabbath-keeping  Huguenots.  Our  American 
civilization,  with  its  school  system,  free  press,  popular 
liberty,  and  exemplary  law  and  order,  has  risen  upon 
the  American  Sabbath. 

Wherever,  in  the  march  of  Christianity,  the  Sabbath 
is  established,  it  becomes  a  standard  of  law  and  order, 
a  charter  of  liberty,  and  a  help  to  culture,  as  well  as 
an  impulse  to  virtue  and  an  inspiration  to  religion. 
The  Sabbath  gave  to  Holland  the  Prince  of  Orange 
and  her  triumph  of  liberty  ;  to  England,  Cromwell 
and  her  political  reforms  ;  and  to  America  her  schools, 
telegraphs,  railroads,  and  heroic  manhood.  Spain, 
substituting  a  holiday  for  the  holy  Sabbath,  fell  from 
her  rank  among  nations  to  a  third-rate  empire.  De- 
voting her  Sabbath  to  bull-fights  and  other  recrea- 
tions, her  royalty,  nobility,  and  clergy  alike  have  sunk 
to  comparative  effeminacy.  The  glory  of  her  arms, 
culture,  and  chivalry  has  faded  out  with  the  light  of 
the  holy  Sabbath.  Her  world-wide  commerce  has 
been  abandoned,  her  empire  dismembered,  her  colo- 
nies  lost,  or  degraded  to  a  mean  vassalage.     Every 


THE   STATE.  10^ 

gentleman  wears  a  sword  to  defend  his  person  and 
the  honor  of  his  family  ;  a  journey  can  hardly  be  taken 
through  its  richest  provinces  without  the  attendance 
of  gens  d'armes.  While  Protestant  Germany,  Scot- 
land, and  America  are  leading  social  and  civil  progress. 
Papal  Italy,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  though  at  the  seat 
of  ancient  empire,  have  been  obstructed,  because  with 
Papal  supremacy  they  have  accepted  a  holiday  for 
God's  Sabbath. 

The  promise  to  the  Hebrews  continues  a  promise 
to  all  nations.  Jeremiah  xvii.  24-26,  says,  "  And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  if  ye  diligently  hearken  unto  me, 
saith  the  Lord,  to  bring  in  no  burden  through  the 
gates  of  this  city  on  the  Sabbath-day,  but  hallow  the 
Sabbath-day,  to  do  no  work  therein  ;  then  shall 
there  enter  into  the  gates  of  this  city  kings  and 
princes,  sitting  on  the  throne  of  David,  riding  in 
chariots  and  on  horses,  they,  and  their  princes,  the 
men  of  Judah,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  : 
and  this  city  shall  remain  forever." 

Just  now  has  risen  on  Plymouth  Rock  the  largest 
granite  monument  in  the  world,  as  a  memorial  of  the 
faith  and  character  of  the  founders  of  New  England. 
On  four  minor  pedestals  on  wing  of  the  central 
structure  rest  four  symbolic  statues  i  on  the  north 
pedestal,  Morality,  holding  in  her  left  hand  the  tables 
of  the  ten  commandments,  and  in  her  right  the  scroll 
of  divine  revelation  ;  on  the  south  pedestal  reposes  a 
female  figure  in  sitting  posture,  representing  educa- 
tion ;  on  the  east  pedestal  appears  a  symbolic  statue 
of  Law ;  and  on  the  west  one  of  Freedom.     But  on 


I06  PROMISE  OF  THE   SABBATH. 

the  central  pedestal  a  colossal  statue  of  Faith  rises 
to  a  height  of  8i  feet.  Citizens  of  the  Gulf  and 
Pacific  as  well  as  of  the  Atlantic  States  may  from 
time  to  time  visit  this  historical  spot,  and  study  this 
memorial  of  the  sacred  convictions  and  traditions  on 
which  this  Republic  was  founded,  and  pledge  their 
loyalty  to  them  ;  but  few  of  the  increasing  millions 
of  American  citizens  will  ever  visit  this  shrine  of  pa- 
triotic devotion,  and  be  inspired  by  its  commemora- 
tion of  the  character  and  heroic  deeds  of  our  fathers. 
But  the  Christian  Sabbath  on  which  they  founded  the 
State  rises  over  the  continent,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  coast,  fraught  with  more  sacred  memorials 
of  the  freedom,  rights,  and  dignity  of  man  than  all 
other  monuments  of  liberty,  civilization,  or  religion 
ever  raised  upon  earth,  and  challenging  the  admira- 
tion and  worship  of  men.  The  vandalism  which  would 
destroy  the  Sabbath  v/ould  be  more  malignant  than 
that  which  burned  the  library  of  Alexandria,  or  rav- 
aged cities,  temples,  and  art-galleries  of  Italy.  The 
overthrow  of  the  American  Sabbath,  with  its  sacred 
associations  and  traditions,  would  be  more  disastrous 
to  the  Republic  and  the  cause  of  human  progress 
than  the  overthrow  of  all  our  State  capitols,  public 
libraries,  and  civic  monuments. 


V. 

Social   Progress- 

"  I  love  thee,  when  thy  Sabbath  dawns 
O'er  woods  and  mountains,  dales  and  lawns, 
And  streams  that  sparkle  while  they  run, 
As  if  their  fountain  were  the  sun  ; 
When  hand  to  hand  thy  tribes  repair. 
Each  to  their  chosen  house  of  prayer  ; 
And  all  in  peace  and  freedom  call 
On  Him  who  is  Lord  of  all." 

While  conserving  and  adorning  the  family  and  the 
State,  the  Sabbath  is  no  less  effective  in  purifying  the 
manners  and  elevating  the  tone  of  general  society. 
Celebrating  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  univer- 
sal brotherliood  of  man,  it  inspires  in  every  human 
bosom  the  ennobling  sentiment,  "  Nothing  human  is 
foreign  to  me."  As  a  cosmopolitan  institution,  it 
promotes  international  sympathies,  counteracts  sec- 
tional prejudices  and  social  feuds,  and  conciliates 
peace  and  good-will  to  all  mankind.  Through  the 
influence  of  its  public  worship  it  softens  the  heart  of 
the  rich  toward  the  poor,  wipes  out  the  poor  man's 
envy  of  the  rich,  and  exalts  an  ensign  of  peace  in 
every  house  of  God  and  over  every  land.  It  rebukes 
violence  and  rudeness,  and  breathes  a  spirit  of  charity 
and  courtesy  over  all.     Under  its  tuition  every  Chris- 


I08  PROMISE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

tian  becomes  a  gentleman,  and  every  church  a  circle 
of  refinement  and  a  school  of  manners.  In  1848  a 
Christian  mission  was  opened  in  New  Hebrides,  and 
in  i860  the  Sabbath  was  as  strictly  observed  as  in 
Scotland.  An  immediate  impulse  was  given  to  social 
culture  and  higher  education.  A  new  civilization 
sprang  up.  The  family  was  restored  and  honored, 
and  infanticide  and  the  horrors  of  savage  warfare 
ceased.  Mousehole,  a  fishing  village  in  the  South  of 
England,  is  Sabbatarian,  and  enjoys  twice  the  thrift, 
culture,  and  virtue  that  New  Lyne  does,  with  its  Sab- 
baths devoted  to  amusements.  In  Polynesia,  and  in 
Jamaica,  after  the  introduction  of  Christianit}^,  the 
Sabbath  became  palpably  the  patron  of  all  domestic 
and  social  virtues,  and  hastened  general  Christian  civ- 
ilization. In  Belgium  the  Sabbath  is  largely  devoted 
to  theatre  gardens,  and  other  resorts  of  the  frivolous 
and  vicious  ;  and  the  people  are  correspondingly 
ignorant  and  superstitious.  After  the  publication  of 
the  Book  of  Sports  in  England  the  people  fell  into 
such  scandalous  dissipation  and  violence,  that  amend- 
ed statutes  and  more  rigorous  police  were  required 
to  abate  the  growing  evil.  The  magistrate  pointed 
out  *' the  quarrels,  bloodshed,  and  other  great  incon- 
veniences" rapidly  spreading  over  the  land,  and  call- 
ing for  ''  the  holy  keeping  of  the  Sabbath,  which  is  a 
principal  part  of  the  worship  of  God."  Macaulay 
says,  "  If  Sunday  had  not  been  observed  as  a  day  of 
rest,  but  the  spade,  the  anvil,  and  the  loom  had  been  at 
work  every  day  during  the  last  three  centuries,  I  have 
no  doubt  that  we  should  have   been  at  this  moment  a 


SOCIAL   PROGllESS.  lOQ 

poorer  people  than  we  are."  An  elaborate  Sabbath 
report  says,  "  Workmen  are  aware,  and  masters  in 
many  trades  admit  the  fact,  that  were  Sunday  labor 
to  cease,  it  would  occasion  no  diminution  of  the 
weekly  wages" — thus  giving  all  the  means  with  the 
leisure  to  adorn  and  enjoy  their  homes.  Bagnell,  an 
extensive  iron-master  in  England,  says,  after  stopping 
work  on  Sundays,  "We  have  made  a  larger  quantity 
of  iron  than  ever,  and  gone  on  in  all  our  six  iron-works 
much  more  free  from  accidents  and  interruptions 
than  during  any  preceding  seven  years  of  our  lives." 
"  It  is  not  to  be  doubted,"  says  Dean  Prideaux,  "but 
that  if  this  method  were  once  dropped  among  us,  the 
generality  of  the  people,  whatever  else  might  be  done 
to  obviate  it,  would  in  seven  years  relapse  into  as  bad 
a  state  of  barbarism  as  was  ever  in  practice  among 
the  worst  of  our  Saxon  or  Danish  ancestors."  J.  S. 
Thomas,  Superintendent  of  Police,  in  a  report  on  the 
Sabbath,  says,  "  Those  who  neglect  a  place  of  wor- 
ship generally  become  idle,  neglectful  of  their  person, 
filthy  in  their  habits,  careless  as  to  their  children,  and 
equally  careless  in  their  pecuniary  transactions." 

As  showing  it  is  the  religious  and  not  the  holiday 
Sabbath  that  pledges  so  much  good,  the  Popish  can- 
tons of  Switzerland  have  poorer,  less  cultured,  and 
less  effective  citizens  than  the  Protestant  cantons, 
which  more  scrupulously  keep  the  Sabbath.  In 
Rome,  where  the  people  had  lost  the  true  use  of  the 
Sabbath,  almost  every  third  man,  twenty  years  ago, 
was  a  pauper  ;  in  Naples,  in  the  same  circumstances, 
220,000  out  of  a  population  of  380,000  were  without 


no  PROMISE    OF   THE   SABBATH. 

fixed  employment,  unable  to  read,  and  the  dupes  of 
superstition.  In  the  degradation  of  the  Sabbath  to  a 
holiday,  and  in  subjection  to  a  priestly  power  that 
has  assumed  the  right  to  thus  pervert  and  desecrate 
the  holy  day,  Ireland  has  declined  in  population,  vigor 
of  manhood,  wealth,  and  culture  ;  while  her  neighbor 
across  the  channel,  in  her  doughty  championship  of  the 
Sabbath,  has  retained  her  liberty,  wealth,  culture,  and 
intellectual  precedence.  After  abrogating  the  Sabbath, 
France  was  emboldened  to  dishonor  the  family,  and 
permit  irregular  alliances  of  the  sexes  ;  so  that  20,000 
divorces  were  decreed  in  Paris  in  one  year.  Count- 
less homeless  infants  were  abandoned  to  the  care  of 
the  state,  and  scarcely  one  in  five  survived  the  heartless 
exposure.  In  horror  at  the  threatened  extinction  of 
the  race  as  well  as  of  virtue,  the  Sabbath  and  religion 
were  restored.  The  discredit  of  the  Sabbath  in  Pro- 
testant countries  has  been  followed  by  commensurate 
demoralization,  and  increase  of  pauperism  and  vice. 
In  great  cities  where  the  Sabbath  rest  is  most  inter- 
rupted, its  sanctity  most  conspicuously  profaned,  and 
largest  classes  are  denied  the  associations  of  public 
worship,  humanity  is  most  degraded,  and  the  stability 
of  society  most  threatened.  Blackstone  says,  "  A  cor- 
ruption of  morals,  usually  follows  a  profanation  of 
the  Sabbath."  John  Foster  declares  the  Sabbath  is  "  a 
remarkable  appointment  for  raising  the  general  tone 
of  moral  existence."  It  tones  up  spiritual  health,  as 
mountain  air  pliysical  health.  Through  its  hallowed 
reunions  mankind  maybe  restored  to  the  brotherhood 
lost  in  the  Fall.    Through  its  teachingof  righteousness. 


SOCIAL    PROGRESS.  Ill 

and  charity,  they  may  cease  to  bear  the  sword  of  con- 
quest, to  oppress  the  weak,  to  rob  the  widow  and 
orphan,  to  despise  the  lowly,  or  to  withhold  sym- 
pathy from  any  son  or  daughter  of  Adam.  Then  war 
and  violence  shall  cease  under  the  whole  heaven. 
One  class  shall  complement  another  in  tastes  and 
pursuits,  instead  of  antagonizing  each  other.  As  the 
habitation  of  man,  the  earth  will  be  a  heavenly  city. 
There  shall  be  nothing  to  hurt  or  harm  in  all  God's 
holy  mountain.  The  holy  day  will  encourage  no 
asceticism,  sourness,  gloom,  or  unhappiness,  but 
meekness  with  firmness,  dignity  with  labor,  plea- 
sure with  beneficence,  and  triumphant  joy  with 
loyalty  to  truth  and  duty. 

Michel  Chevalier  says,  "Let us  observe  Sunday  in 
the  name  of  hygiene,  if  not  in  the  name  of  religion." 
Dr.  Paul  Neimeyer  declares  there  are  "  medical  reasons 
which  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  the  Sunday  rest 
in  a  manner  as  certain  as  other  reasons  demonstrate 
the  necessity  of  disinfection  in  case  of  an  epidemic, 
or  vaccination  in  case  of  small-pox."  Proudhon,  the  so- 
cial philosopher,  though  discarding  religion,  declares, 
*'  Shorten  the  week  by  a  single  day,  and  the  labor 
bears  too  small  a  proportion  to  the  rest ;  lengthen  the 
week  to  the  same  extent,  and  labor  becomes  excessive. 
Establish  every  three  days  a  half  day  of  rest  and  you 
increase  by  a  fraction  the  loss  of  time,  while  in  sever- 
ing the  natural  unity  of  the  day  you  break  the  numeri- 
cal harmony  of  things.  Accord,  on  the  other  hand, 
forty-eight  hours  of  rest,  after  twelve  successive  days 
of  toil,  you  kill   the   man  with   inertia,  after   having 


112  PROMISE   OF  THE   SABLATH. 

exhausted  him  with  fatigue."  Not  long  before  his 
death  Laplace  said,  "  I  have  lived  long  enough  to  know 
what  at  one  time  I  did  not  believe — that  no  society 
can  be  upheld  without  the  sentiment  of  religion."  But 
religious  sentiment  never  prevails  without  religious 
worship  ;  and  religious  worship  can  never  be  main- 
tained in  any  effective  manner  without  an  established 
time  and  order  of  worship.  Turning  a  Sabbath  into 
a  holiday  filled  with  pageants  and  dissipation  may 
impoverish  a  people  and  vulgarize  their  spirit  and 
manners  ;  while  its  rigorous  observance  for  worship 
and  higher  education  always  increases  industry,  frugal- 
ity, thrift,  culture,  rational  pleasures,  and  piety.  All 
countries  have  been  retarded  in  social  progress  by  ab- 
rogation of  a  Sabbath  or  by  turning  it  into  a  holiday. 
In  all  Christian  countries  those  most  deprived  of  the 
Sabbatli,  as  boatmen,  cabmen,  porters,  newsboys,  and 
other  classes,  have  most  conspicuously  deteriorated  in 
manners  and  character.  There  can  be  no  morals 
without  religion,  and  no  religion  without  a  Sabbath. 


VI. 

Moral   Reform.  \ 

"Sleep,  sleep  to  day,  tormenting  cares, 
Of  earth  and  folly  born  : 
Ye  shall  not  dim  the  light  that  streams 
From  this  celestial  morn." 

Virtue  is  discovered  not  by  reason,  but  by  intui- 
tion. It  is  enforced  by  religion,  not  by  philosophy. 
"  'Tis  religion  that  makes  vows  kept  " — vows  of  per- 
sonal duty,  family  honor,  political  loyalty,  or  commer- 
cial integrity.  Impiety  promotes  all  vice  ;  true  piety, 
all  virtues.  As  the  presence  of  parents  awakens  filial 
respect  and  obedience  ;  and  a  child  returning  from 
truant  sports,  and  sitting  at  the  family  board  or  bow- 
ing at  the  family  altar,  deplores  the  disobedience,  bad 
temper,  or  angry  dispute  of  the  day,  and  regains 
the  peace,  fellowship,  and  blessing  of  home — so, 
returning  from  the  rivalries  and  contentions  of  the 
week,  and  appearing  before  God  on  the  Sabbath, 
man  is  won  to  reverence  and  penitence  toward  God, 
and  charity  toward  men.  In  the  house  of  God,  laying 
aside  hatreds,  envies,  and  jealousies,  he  learns  to  for- 
give, because  the  Heavenly  Father  commands  it,  and 
he  feels  need  of  forgiveness.  Thus  in  ten  thousand 
communities  tlie  Sabbath  opens  springs  of  moral  sen- 
8 


114  PROMISE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

sibilities  and  reforms.  Those  revering  and  loving 
the  Universal  Father  will  feel  sympatliy  and  good-will 
for  the  universal  brotherhood. 

The  Empress  Catharine  bore  in  her  bosom  a 
picture  of  Peter  the  Great,  and  in  every  hour  of  per- 
plexity she  would  draw  it  fortli  and  inquire,  "What 
would  Peter  say  ?"  So  the  child  of  God  is  reminded 
with  each  recurring  Sabbath  of  his  glorious  Ancestor, 
and  is  lead  to  utter  the  cry,  "What  would  the  King- 
say?"  He  is  summoned  to  review  his  life,  orient  his 
position,  deplore  his  errors,  and  reform  his  plans. 
With  the  dawn  of  the  holy  day  he  lays  aside  rude 
speech,  vulgar  habits,  and  vindictive  dispositions  as 
soiled  garments.  On  that  day  the  pilgrim  examines 
maps,  reviews  his  journey,  and  makes  sure  his  course. 
The  voyager  takes  his  reckoning  from  celestial  paral- 
laxes and  more  surely  turns  the  ship  toward  the  des- 
tined port.  The  Sabbatli  becomes  a  mount  of  obser- 
vation and  earnest  resolve.  The  thoughtless  become 
thoughtful  ;  the  untruthful,  truthful ;  the  jealous  and 
vindictive,  charitable  and  forgiving  ;  the  selfish  learn 
to  care  for  others.  Those  who  will  not  serve  God 
will  not  seek  the  welfare  of  fellow-men  ;  those  who 
are  false  to  God  cannot  be  true  to  men.  Those 
refusing  the  minimum  of  homage  to  Jehovah  in  Sab- 
bath observance  do  not  so  serve  Him  as  to  be  saved  by 
Him.  At  the  date  of  the  French  Revolution  England 
was  stirred  by  the  spectacle  of  the  punishment  of 
impiety  in  the  Reign  of  Terror ;  and  the  Mayor  of 
London,  writing  to  Lord  Treasurer  Burleigh,  says,  "  It 
gives  great  occasion  to  acknowledge  the  hand  of  God 


MORAL   REFORM.  II5 

for  such  abuse  of  His  Sabbath-day,  and  moveth  me  in 
conscience  to  give  order  for  redress  of  such  contempt 
of  God's  service."  At  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, a  chronicler  says,  the  masses  of  England,  impa- 
tient of  the  rigor  of  the  Puritan  Sabbath,  letting  loose 
the  reins,  and  giving  out  the  bridle  unto  all  kinds  of 
vanities  and  licentiousness,"  turned  the  holy  day  into  a 
holiday,  Mount  Zion  into  the  devil's  playground, 
widened  the  margin  for  selfishness  and  sin,  set  up 
the  goddess  of  pleasure  in  the  house  of  God,  and 
made  the  Sabbath,  instead  of  a  bridge  to  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  week,  a  hebdomadal  descent  into  hell.  As 
illustrating  the  conservative  influence  of  the  Sabbath, 
by  a  striking  symbol  Hogarth  "  represents  the  idle 
apprentice,  whose  course  ends  at  the  gallows,  as 
gambling  on  a  Sunday  upon  a  tombstone,  during 
divine  service."  An  English  judge  recognizes  the 
use  of  the  Sabbath  as  determining  the  destiny  of 
many  :  "  There  is  no  body  of  men  so  destitute  of  all 
moral  culture  as  boatmen — who  have  no  Sabbath, 
and  are  possessed  of  no  means  of  religious  instruc- 
tion." 

In  his  "  Divine  Origin  and  Obligation  of  the  Sab- 
bath" Dr.  Croly  says,  ''  The  divine  origin  of  the 
Sabbath  might  almost  be  proved  from  its  opposition 
to  the  lower  propensities  of  mankind.  In  no  age  of 
the  world  since  labor  was  known  would  any  master 
of  the  serf,  the  slave,  or  the  cattle  have  spontaneously 
given  up  a  seventh  part  of  their  toil.  No  human 
legislator  would  have  prepared  such  a  law  of  prop- 
erty, or  if  he  had,  no  nation  would  have  indorsed  it, 


Il6  PROMISE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

The  Sabbath  in  its  whole  character  is  so  strongly 
opposed  to  the  avarice,  the  heartlessness,  and  the  irre- 
ligion  of  man,  that,  except  in  the  days  of  Moses 
and  Joshua,  it  has  never  probably  been  observed  with 
due  reverence  by  any  nation  of  the  world." 

Sabbath-keeping  laborers  will  gain  more  conces- 
sions from  capital  by  firmly  demanding  them  in 
the  name  of  the  Universal  Father  than  by  the  waste- 
fulness and  violence  of  strikes.  Their  sobriety  and 
religious  decorum  will  conciliate  the  sympathy  of 
church  and  state.  Awaking  to  a  consciousness  of  the 
rights  and  dignity  of  manhood,  the  laborer  stands 
more  erect,  assumes  a  firmer  step  and  braver  aspect, 
and  less  constrained  manners,  and  elevates  his  de- 
mands to  the  plane  of  his  character  and  his  rights. 
A  Sabbath-union  would  be  more  effective  over  the 
country  than  any  trades-union.  The  prestige  of  di- 
vine authority  would  support  it.  The  Church  would 
champion  the  claim.  The  Sabbath  is  the  great  re- 
formation day  for  the  world.  It  is  Heaven's  day  for 
the  confession  of  the  penitents  of  earth.  It  appeals 
to  the  bold  transgressor  and  to  the  secret  sinner  alike 
to  seek  forgiveness  and  peace  of  God.  The  mere  holi- 
day perverts  the  Sabbath  into  a  curse.  It  confuses 
the  conscience  of  the  world  by  confounding  amuse- 
ment with  worship,  wrests  from  man  the  still  hour  of 
prayer,  and  mocks  him  with  provisions  suited  only  to 
animals,  and  animalizes  him  if  satisfied  with  them. 
The  Sabbath  is  not  only  an  impulse  to  all  personal 
and  class  reformations,  but  also  furnishes  needed  op- 
portunities and  appliances  for  carrying  on  all  reforms, 


MORAL   REFORM.  II7 

Churches  are  the  most  effective  of  all  reform  societies. 
Their  songs  and  prayers  are  persuasive  appeals  to  all 
men  to  break  off  their  evil  habits  and  cultivate  truth, 
righteousness,  and  charity.  But  secular  organiza- 
tions find  their  only  adequate  opportunity  for  charity 
on  the  Sabbath,  which  is  thus  the  field  day  of  moral 
effort.  The  Sabbath  is  the  minimum  of  time  indis- 
pensable for  the  rest  of  man  and  the  worship  of  God. 
"Moralists,"  says  Bishop  Dupanloup,  "what  will  you 
find  more  efficacious  as  a  civilizing  and  moral  agen- 
cy ?  I  demand,  is  there  not  in  all  the  powerful  influ- 
ences penetrated  by  religion  a  check,  a  force,  inspi- 
rations of  honesty,  of  decency,  and  good  morals, 
which  nothing  equals  and  which  nothing  will  supply  ? 
There  is  something  in  religious  habits  incompatible 
with  intemperance  and  disorder.  If  you  ruin  the 
Sabbath,  you  will  infallibly  introduce  the  saloon. 
Of  all  the  scourges  which  can  strike  the  people,  there 
is  nothing  greater.  Three  fifths  of  the  diseases  of  the 
common  people  are  due  to  the  saloon.  The  lowering 
of  wages  or  the  pestilence  is  nothing  compared  with 
it." 


VII. 

Religion. 

*•  Sabbath  holy, 

To  the  lowly 
Still  art  thou  a  Avelcome  day; 

When  thou  comest, 

Earth  and  ocean, 

Shade  and  brightness, 

Rest  and  motion, 
Help  the  poor  man's  heart  to  pray." 

a.  By  demanding  supreme  attention,  the  Sabbath 
inspires  religious  sentiment.  A  military  order  heard 
along  the  lines  of  an  army  summons  every  division, 
corps,  regiment,  company,  and  individual  to  a  posture 
of  obedience,  and  all  wait  in  breathless  suspense  for 
the  first  word  of  command.  So  the  Sabbath,  with  the 
precision  and  prestige  of  an  order  of  nature,  chal- 
lenges the  attention  of  man  to  the  voice  and  will  of 
God.  As  cathedral  bell  calls  worshippers  from  ham- 
let, village,  and  town;  the  Sabbath,  as  from  mountain- 
tops  gilded  with  its  first  beams,  bids  all  classes  and 
conditions  of  men  pause  in  the  hurried  march  of  life, 
to  study  and  celebrate  the  works,  will,  and  glory  of 
the  Creator.  This  fixed  attention  is  the  first  con- 
dition of  religious  as  it  is  of  mental  or  military 
discipline.     With  attention  may  arise  a  devout  senti- 


RELIGION.  1 19 

ment,  without  which  no  instruction  or  appeal  of  reli- 
gion is  effectual.  God's  call  to  men  is  articulated  and 
emphasized  through  every  returning  holy  day.  If  they 
hear  that  voice  they  may  enter  into  the  experiences,  dis- 
cipline, and  promise  of  religion.  If  they  refuse  the 
homage  of  attention,  they  foreswear  all  piety.  An  act 
of  reverence  so  important  to  the  very  inception  of 
worship  could  not  have  been  left  contingent  upon 
uncertain  appointments  or  variable  traditions  of  men, 
but  must  have  been  made  clear,  certain,  and  uniform 
as  an  order  of  nature,  the  succession  of  day  and  night. 
After  six  days  of  toil  in  field,  mine,  counting-house, 
or  office,  the  Sabbath  rings  the  great  bell  of  the  uni-' 
verse,  and  bids  continents  and  islands,  high  and  low, 
rich  and  poor,  rest  and  worship  God  together. 

b.  The  Sabbath,  by  maintaining  its  inviolability,  con- 
firms religious  sentiment.  Its  light  consecrates  every 
hour  and  place  it  shines  upon.  The  whole  day  be- 
comes holy  time,  and  may  open  Bethels  anywhere 
under  the  canopy  of  heaven — in  busy  town,  rural  set- 
tlement, lone  desert,  secluded  vale,  mountain  cave,  or 
remote  field.  By  this  universal  consecration  the  Sab- 
bath provides  for  and  encourages  though  it  cannot 
compel  worship,  as  the  darkness  and  stillness  of  night 
may  provide  for  but  cannot  assure  sleep.  One  of  the 
best  endowed  and  disciplined  female  colleges  in  this 
country  sets  apart  fifteen  minutes  before  the  studies 
of  the  day  begin,  for  private  meditation  and  prayer. 
It  does  not  coerce,  but  encourages  this  auspicious 
beginning  of  each  day's  tasks.  Sabbath  decorum  is 
compulsory  only  as   this  school  order,  and  is  enjoined 


120  PROMISE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

for  the  same  reason  as  the  decorum  of  the  scliool,  the 
army,  the  court,  and  the  congress  is  enforced.  As  a 
ship  rests  only  when  the  waters  bearing  it  on  their 
bosom  are  still,  so  man  cannot  enter  into  appreciation 
and  praise  of  Jehovah  and  His  works  while  the  world 
is  bustling  around  him.  As  well  expect  proficiency  in 
military  discipline  where  inattention,  conversation,  or 
boisterous  mirth  are  allowed  along  the  ranks;  or  pro- 
ficiency in  public  education  while  whispering,  laugh- 
ing, whistling,  playing  cards  or  marbles,  or  angry 
disputes  are  tolerated  in  the  schoolroom — as  the  so- 
lemnity, exaltation,  and  holy  aspiration  of  religious 
worship  in  communities  where  the  noise  of  business 
or  the  hilarity  of  amusement  prevails.  In  the  secu- 
larized Sabbath  the  voice  of  God  is  not  heard  above 
the  tumult  of  angry  passions,  the  shouts  of  bacchanal 
songs,  or  the  din  of  industries.  Without  the  repose\ 
and  stillness  of  the  Sabbath  man  enters  not  into  peace- 
ful communion  with  heaven,  or  the  most  charitable 
fellowship  with  earth.  The  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath 
is  the  minimum  postulate  of  true  religion.  It  is  a  i 
provision  for  all  faiths  and  higher  education  alike. 
This  conceded,  religious  worship  and  discipline  may 
be  universally  established.  This  denied,  atheism  is 
proclaimed,  and  all  impiety  licensed.  It  is  a  catholic 
provision  for  a  universal  necessity.  With  the  Sab- 
bath man  may  be  won  to  worship  God  ;  without  it 
he  is  remitted  to  impiety  and  materialism.  Religion 
must  be  celebrated  to  be  conserved,  but  without  a 
holy  day  it  is  not  celebrated,  and  at  length  the  closet 
is  forsaken,  the  family  altar  neglected,  and  the  house 


RELIGION.  121 

of  God  closed.  The  sanctity  of  the  day  guarded, 
stimulates  thoughtful  inquiry,  awakens  circumspec- 
tion, and  inspires  sacred  sentiments  and  blessed  hopes. 
The  day  is  transfigured  with  the  Creator's  name  and 
praise.  At  man's  entrance  into  the  temple  of  the 
universe  tliis  day  is  erected  as  a  monument  of  the 
power,  beneficence,  and  glory  of  its  infinite  Architect. 
By  its  silent  majesty  it  rebukes  all  who  would  deny 
or  obscure  His  glory.  The  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath is  an  act  of  homage  available  to  every  human 
being,  in  any  land  or  age.  Men  cannot  always  make 
pilgrimages,  or  observe  costly  ceremonials,  but  they 
can  all  remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy  in 
their  homes,  and  before  their  neighbors.  Sabbath 
keepers  are  great  champions  for  religion.  They  are 
perpetually  bearing  testimony  to  the  being,  attributes, 
and  glory  of  God.  No  other  ordinance  or  ceremonial 
so  effectually  conserves  or  propagates  religion  as  the 
hallowed  Sabbath.  Wheedled  out  of  its  privileges,  the 
poor  are  deprived  of  all  means  of  spiritual  culture, 
and  then  out  of  any  assured  rest  from  labor,  and  are 
worked  seven  days  for  the  wages  of  six. 

c.  By  associating  its  observance  with  the  sanction 
of  the  Creator's  example,  the  Sabbath  transfigures 
religious  sentiment.  The  order  of  holy  times  is  based 
on  the  number  and  proportion  seven,  mysteriously 
wroughc  into  the  constitution  of  man  and  nature. 
Making  this  order,  marked  by  the  revolution  of 
heavenly  bodies,  a  monitor  to  the  duties  of  religion, 
God  establishes  the  unity  of  His  covenant  with  the 
course  of  nature,  and  hallows  the  Sabbath  by  associat- 


122  PROMISE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

ing  it  with  the  order  of  creation,  and  His  own  conse- 
crating blessing  and  example.  The  creative  energy 
of  the  Almighty  is  no  more  majestic  than  His  repose. 
As  artificer  or  artist  invites  appreciation  of  his  works, 
the  divine  Artificer  summons  man,  made  in  His  like- 
ness and  sharing  His  capabilities  of  freedom  and 
thought,  to  review  and  rejoice  in  His  works:  "  For  in 
six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and 
all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day:  where- 
fore the  Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath-day,  and  hallowed 
it."  Entering  into  fellowship  with  the  Creator  is  the 
primary  purpose  and  chief  glory  of  the  Sabbath.  It 
is  made  Jehovah's  reception-day — His  time  of  audi- 
ence with  the  inhabitants  of  earth.  This  direct  and 
recurring  summons  to  communion  and  companionship 
with  Heaven  is  the  most  impressive  call  to  prayer.  In 
the  Sabbath  stillness,  hearing  the  Father's  voice,  even 
the  prodigal,  with  returning  filial  devotion,  exclaims, 
"Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  do?"  "As  the  eyes 
of  a  servant  to  his  master,  or  a  maiden  to  her  mistress; 
so  our  e)'^es  wait  upon  Thee"  in  the  summons  of  the 
holy  Sabbath. 

d.  By  its  assemblies  and  ceremonial  observance 
the  Sabbath  promotes  religion.  Every  school  of 
philosophy,  party  of  politics,  or  system  of  religion 
builds  itself  up  by  some  mode  of  association  or  cele- 
bration. The  teacher  prescribes  some  routine  of 
studies,  recitations,  and  examinations  to  assure  im- 
provement of  his  pupils  ;  military  discipline  is  as- 
sured by  drills,  reviews,  and  experience  on  the  battle- 
field ;  so  religious  culture  is  attained  only  by  religious 


RELIGION.  123 

training,  companionship,  and   observance.     The  Sab- 
bath provides  for  holy  assemblies,  celebrations,  and 
thanksgivings.      Without    these    provisions    religion 
would  decline  as  education  without  the  discipline  of 
schools,  or   military   s!dll  without   military  training. 
With  a  proper  use  of  the  Sabbath,  no  soul  need  re- 
main ignorant  of   God,  of   Christ,  or  the  way  of  sal- 
vation.    With  the  holy  day  and   the  freedom  of  the 
Scriptures,  believers  may  institute  their  own  church, 
ordain    their    own    preachers,    and    find    the    way    to 
heaven  without  the   mediation  of  priest  or  prelate. 
Cathedral  pomp,  sacred   tribunals,  sink  into  insignifi- 
cance as  a  means  of  instruction  and  salvation  com- 
pared with   the  hallowed   ministries  of  the  Sabbath. 
But  while  its  sacred  uses  are  so  effectual  in  maintain- 
ing religion,  its  various  desecration  closes  the  house 
of  God,  seals  up  the  Bible,  and  overthrows  the  altars 
of  religion.     Men  had  better  spend  their  Sabbaths  in 
field,  shop,  or  counting-house,  than  in  theatre,  saloon, 
race-course,  or  other  dissipating  amusements.     Where 
sporting  supersedes  the  proper  discipline  of  the  Sab- 
bath, neither  body,  mind,  nor  heart  seem  recuperated. 
Locke  says,  "  Men  therefore  cannot  be  excused  from 
.  understanding  the   words  and   framing    the    general 
notions   relating  to    religion   right.     The  one  day  in 
seven,  besides  other  days  of  rest,  allows  in  the  Chris- 
tian world  time  enough  for  this  (had  they  no  other  idle 
hours),  if  they  would  make  use  of  these  vacancies  from 
their  daily  labor,  and  apply  themselves  to  an  improve- 
ment of  knowledge  with  as  much  diligence   as  they 
often  do  to  a  great  many  other  things  that  are  useless." 


124  PROMISE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

Says  Archbishop  Leighton,  "  The  very  life  of  reli- 
gion doth  much  depend  upon  the  solemn  observation 
of  this  day.  Consider  but  if  we  should  intermit  the 
keeping  of  the  Sabbath  for  one  year,  to  what  height 
profaneness  would  rise  in  those  who  fear  not  God  ; 
who  are  yet  restrained  (though  not  converted)  by  the 
preaching  of  the  Word,  and  the  outward  partaking  of 
public  worship  ;  yea,  those  that  are  most  spiritual 
would  find  themselves  losers  by  the  intermission." 
Lord  Bacon  confesses  in  respect  to  the  value  of  con- 
secrated time,  "  I  "have  loved  the  assemblies,  I  have  de- 
lighted in  the  brightness  of  Thy  sanctuary.  .  .  .  Thy 
creatures  have  been  my  books,  but  Thy  Scriptures 
much  more.  I  have  sought  Thee  in  the  courts,  fields, 
and  gardens  ;  but  I  have  found  Thee  in  Thy  temple  !" 

e.  By  awakening  the  jubilance  of  gratitude  the 
Sabbath  promotes  religious  worship.  The  very  idea 
of  emancipation  in  the  cessation  of  labor  inspires  joy. 

All  thoughts,  activities,  industries,  possessions,  and 
hopes  are  offered  as  worship.  Mere  prolonged  sleep- 
ing, feasting,  or  amusement  would  fatigue  the  body, 
obscure  the  mind,  and  corrupt  the  heart.  In  such 
mere  animal  indulgences  man  fraternizes  with  the 
brutes.  An  elevation  of  the  mental  faculties  to  a 
higher  sphere  is  rest  and  recuperation.  An  exhilara- 
tion of  the  mental  faculties  and  purification  of  the 
afTections  of  the  heart  arises  from  thanksgiving  and 
praise  to  the  Creator. 

**  The  world  is  full  of  care  ; 

The  haggard  brow  is  wrought 
In  furrows,  as  of  fixed  despair  ; 
And  checked  the  heavenward  thought. 


RELIGION.  125 

"  But  with  indignant  grace 

The  Sabbath's  chastening  tone 
Drives  money-changers  from  the  place 
Which  God  doth  call  His  own. 

"The  world  is  full  of  grief  ; 
Sorrows  o'er  sorrows  roll  ; 
And  the  fair  hope  that  brings  relief 
Doth  sometimes  pierce  the  soul. 

"The  Sabbath's  peaceful  sound 
Bears  mercy's  holy  seal, 
A  balm  of  Gilead  for  the  wound 
That  man  is  weak  to  heal." 

"Oh  that  men  would  praise  the  Lord  for  His 
goodness  and  His  wonderful  works  to  the  children 
of  men  !"  ''  Oh,  come,  let  us  bow  down  ;  let  us  kneel 
before  the  Lord  our  Maker  !" 

Bowed  beneath  the  burdens,  distracted  by  the  cares, 
consumed  by  the  envies  and  jealousies,  or  clouded  by 
the  sorrows  of  the  week,  humanity  cannot  raise  a 
chorus  of  praise  to  Jehovah. 

But  the  sweet  peace  of  the  Sabbath  raises  a  song 
of  thanksgiving  from  ten  thousand  homes  and  thou- 
sands of  houses  of  prayer,  fills  the  earth  with  glad- 
ness, and  attunes  the  heart  of  mankind  to  praise. 
As  the  Hebrews  rose  above  the  adoration  of  the  dis- 
tant village  synagogue,  in  the  union  of  the  tribes,  in 
the  great  festivals  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  ;  so  in 
the  universal  and  grander  jubilations  of  Sabbath 
worship  mankind  rise  above  the  lower  and  more 
local    strains    of    week-day    homage.      The    Sabbath 


126  PROMISE    OF   THE    SABBATH. 

awakening  that  gratitude  which  is  the  prelude  to  any 
harmony  of  God's  praise,  attunes  a  people  for  wor- 
ship, as  the  instruments  of  an  orchestra  are  attuned 
for  the  oratorio  of  ''Creation"  or  "Messiah."  As 
the  Hebrews  in  the  feast  of  Tabernacles  joyfully  re- 
viewed the  blessings  of  the  year,  so  all  the  refreshed 
laborers  of  earth  should  contemplate  and  celebrate 
the  providence  and  glory  of  God  every  Sabbath-day. 
The  prone  toiler  may  rise  from  his  burden  in  grate- 
ful worship.  If  labor  may  become  worship,  much 
more  may  triumph  over  its  achievements  be  worship. 
Removal  of  the  galling  yoke  of  toil  may  inspire  a 
more  triumphant  praise. 

6.  In  celebrating  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  the 
Christian  Sabbath  has  become  a  perpetual  inspiration 
to  religion.  Apart  from  immortality,  religion  opens 
but  a  narrow  scope  for  ennobling  motive  or  inspiring 
promise.  No  prayer  has  its  worthy  amen,  or  song  its 
proper  refrain,  which  does  not  contemplate  the  life  to 
come.  In  the  exaltation  of  religious  worship  the  soul 
basks  in  the  sunlight  of  heaven. 

In  celebrating  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  the  Sab- 
bath rises  over  buried  generations,  as  Trajan's  column 
over  the  golden  urn  which  contained  his  ashes,  cele- 
brating to  Rome  the  perpetuity  of  the  name  of  their 
great  emperor.  It  sheds  a  halo  of  glory  over  the 
graves  of  all  the  pious  dead.  It  were  enough  if  the 
silence  of  the  Sabbath  were  enforced  for  the  weekly 
reading  over  the  graves  of  our  ancestors,  *' I  am  the 
resurrection  and  tlie  life.  "  Celebrating  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ,  and  the    promise  of  the  resurrec- 


RELIGION.  127 

tion  of  the  righteous  in  Him,  the  Sabbath  will  re- 
main a  perpetual  incentive  and  inspiration  to  reli- 
gion. In  its  varied  influence  arresting  attention, 
enforcing  consecration,  associating  divine  example, 
providing  for  holy  assemblies,  and  the  celebration  of 
gratitude  and  of  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  the 
Sabbath  is  a  greater  religious  force  than  all  the  reli- 
gious priesthoods,  temples,  and  other  ordinances  of 
the  world  combined.  In  sacred  procession  from  the 
morning  of  creation  Sabbaths  have  dawned  in  moral 
splendor,  singing  over  earth  and  above  the  heavens, 
in  ceaseless  refrain,  the  beauty  and  beneficence  of 
nature,  the  greatness  and  duty  of  man,  and  the  tran- 
scendent majesty  and  glory  of  Jehovah.  They  have 
stimulated  thouglit,  prompted  worship,  dispelled  the 
gloom  of  atheism,  and  transfigured  earth  into  a  tem- 
ple of  God.  Blot  out  the  Sabbath,  and  the  great 
structure  of  Christian  civilization  would  fall,  as  the 
temple  of  the  Philistines  before  the  blind  fury  of 
Samson. 


PART  III. 
DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 


Objections. 


**  Thy  temple  is  the  arch 

Of  yon  unmeasured  sky; 
Thy  Sabbath,  the  stupendous  march 
Of  vast  eternity," 

a.  It  is  objected  that  the,  local  and  temporary  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  origin  of  the  Sabbath  deny- 
to  it  the  characterand  prestige  of  a  statutory  law.  But 
did  not  tlie  divine  order  of  the  family  arise  from  a 
local  emergency,  and  a  personal  history  ?  Did  not  the 
summary  of  divine  revelations,  now  accepted  as  a 
canon  of  sacred  writings,  rise  from  vni-ious  local  and 
personal  messages  to  the  Jews,  generation  after  gene- 
ration ?  Were  not  pastorate,  diaconate,  ordinances,  of- 
fices, and  discipline  of  the  Church,  now  accepted  as 
statutory  law,  enjoined  originally  upon  single  com- 
munities, and  to  meet  immediate  personal  and  local 
necessities  ?  The  holy  baptism  and  the  blessed  com- 
munion, celebrating  personal   loyalty  and  love  of  the 


OBJECTIONS.  129 

first  disciples  to  Christ,  have  been  transmitted  through 
the  Apostles  as  the  fundamental  institutions  of  Chris- 
tianity. Denying  institutional  character  to  the  Sab- 
bath on  account  of  supposed  lack  of  specific  formal 
appointment,  we  may  also  for  the  same  reason  deny 
such  character  to  the  family  and  to  all  divine  ordi- 
nances. But  conceding  the  wisdom  and  beneficence  of 
the  Sabbath,  why  doubt  divine  forecast  in  its  appoint- 
ment ?  Do  not  divine  blessing  and  example  impart 
sufficient  sanction  to  a  divine  institution?  Is  not  the 
precise  order  of  nature,  in  the  invariable  revolution  of 
the  earth  on  its  axis,  and  the  perpetual  succession  of 
day  and  night,  a  sufficiently  autlioritative  and  majestic 
monitor  to  enforce  a  divine  ordinance? 

b.  It  is  objected  that  the  Sabbatli  was  a  Mosaic  law, 
and  expired  with  Judaism.  Those  seeking  to  honor 
the  Lord's  Day  by  annulling  the  primitive  Sabbath 
deny  adequate  basis  for  ajiy  holy  day.  Apostolic  exam- 
ple is  sufficient  to  substitute  one  day  for  another  only 
on  the  condition  that  the  essential  Sabbath  consists  in 
the  observance  oione  day  in  seven,  instead  of  the  seventh 
day  in  orderly  succession  from  the  creation,  and  that 
the  Sabbath  of  Christendom  is  another  rendering  of 
the  law  of  Eden  and  Sinai.  As  the  Sabbath  existed 
before  Moses,  and  continued  after  him,  Christ  only 
reaffirmed  the  Sabbath  as  made  for  man  universally  to 
the  end  of  time.  It  is  no  more  a  Jewish  law  than  the  * 
right  of  property,  obedience  to  parents,  or  homage  to 
God.  Reaffirrned~~5y~1Moses,  and  translated  into  the  '• 
first  day  in  commemoration  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ,  the  original  Sabbath  is  perpetuated  and  glori- 
9 


fi 


130  DEP^ENCE   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

• 
fied  in  the  Lord's  Day.  It  is  the  right  of  government  in- 
herent in  the  constitution  of  man  that  gives  sanction 
to  different  forms  of  civil  society:  "  The  powers  that  be 
are  ordained  of  God."  No  Sabbath  can  be  enforced, 
not  basing  its  claims  on  the  same  constitutional 
necessities  of  man  ;  and  the  same  primitive  and  divine 
ordinance.  In  hallowing  the  first  day  of  the  week 
the  Church  of  Christ  are  the  true  Sabbatarians 

c.  It  is  objected  that  the  Sabbath,  was  made  dis- 
tinctly a  sign  of  God's  covenant  with  Israel,  and  there- 
fore could  not  have  existed  before  they  were  a  nation 
Though  arising  under  natural  law  and  variously  min- 
istering to  the  beauty  and  beneficence  of  nature  before, 
the  rainbow  was  made  a  sign  of  God's  covenant  with 
man.  So  the  existing  Sabbath  was  made  the  seal  of 
a  covenant  between  Jehovah  and  his  people  in  all  ages, 
The  Sabbath  remams  a  test  of  piety  and  the  measure 
of  its  rewards. 

A  ring  made  for  another  purpose,  and  worn  upon 
another  hand,  is  made  a  symbol  and  pledge  of  a  new 
affection.  It  is  only  moved  from  the  finger  of  one 
loved  one  to  that  of  another  to  invest  it  with  a  new 
significance.  So  the  Sabbath,  though  existing  from 
the  beginning,  became  a  sign  of  God's  covenant  with 
His  Church  under  both  dispensations. 

/d.Jlt  is  objected  that  the  patriarchs  did  not  keep 
the  Sabbath.  If  they  disregarded  it,  their  precedent 
would  no  more  set  aside  its  authority  than  that  of  tlie 
family.  If  violation  of  a  law  is  sufficient  reason  for 
its  repeal,  the  abrogation  of  all  laws  civil  and  divine 
might    be   justified.     The    prosperity  of    any   nation 


OBJECTIONS.  -131 

transgressing  physical,  intellectual,  or  moral  laws 
would  furnish  no  precedent  for  the  disregard  of  those 
laws.  But  there  is  no  more  proof  that  the  patriarchs 
de-secrated  the  Sabbath  than  that  they  violated  other 
precepts  of  the  Decalogue.  It  is  no  more  probable 
that  the  Sabbath  disappeared  in  patriarchal  and 
other  ages  where  not  conspicuously  observed,  than 
that  the  family  lapsed  in  all  lands  and  ages  where  not 
clearly  traced  in  historic  annals.  Silence  cannot  an- 
nul divine  ordinances.  Royal  precedents  could  not 
overthrow  them. 

The  Sabbath  will  recur  in  its  majestic  order  so  long 
as^he  earth  turns  on  its  axis  and  man  inhabits  it. 
/^  It  is  objected  that  Christianity  makes  every  day  a 
Sabbath,  and  therefore  he  who  exalts  one  day  de- 
grades the  rest.  But  it  is  found  by  experience  that 
those  claiming  to  hallow  all  days  soon  cease  to 
hallow  any.  Claiming  to  worship  at  all  times,  they 
worship  at  710  time.  They  who  pray,  must  have  a  day 
for  prayer.  A  region  in  this  world  where  all  days  are 
hallowed,  is  an  Utopia.  A  region  where  none  is  hal- 
lowed, fast  degenerates  to  a  Pandemonium.  Washing- 
ton Irving  exposes  the  dangerous  fallacy  of  those 
proposing  to  hallow  all  days,  instead  of  a  Sabbath  : 


"  Shrewd  men,  indeed,  these  new  reformers  are  ! — 
Each  week-day  is  a  Sabbath,  they  declare. 
A  Christian  theory  ! — the  unchristian  fact  is, 
Each  Sabbath  is  a  week-day  in  the  practice." 

/.  It  is  urged  that  by  apostolic  authority  Sabbath 
observance   is   left    discretionary  with  the   disciples. 


132  DEFENCE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

But  traditional  festivals,  new  moons,  and  ceremonial 
Sabbaths,  and  not  the  primitive  unrepealed  and  irre- 
pealable  Sabbath  law,  were  under  consideration  in 
epistles  to  the  churches:  "  Let  no  man,  therefore,  judge 
you  in  meat,  or  in  drink,  or  m  respect  of  an  holy  day, 
or  of  the  new  moon,  or  of  the  Sabbath-days."  The 
apostle  was  seeking  to  emancipate  the  churches  from 
the  bondage  of  ritualism.  But  freedom  from  Jewish 
traditions  does  not  relax  the  rigor  of  primitive  divine 
law.  After  the  abolition  of  the  ritualistic  Sabbath, 
the  Sabbath  of  Eden  remains  to  the  end  of  time.  The 
seventh-day  rest  can  no  more  be  abrogated  than  the 
six  days'  labor.  The  primitive  churches  doubtless 
were  left  free  to  choose  between  the  days  or  observe 
both.  But  there  is  no  intimation  of  any  right  to 
abrogate  the  law  of  the  Sabbath.  There  was  liberty 
as  to  how  or  when  to  observe  it,  but  not  as  to  the  fact 
of  observing  it. 

g.  It  is  claimed  by  some  that  the  appointment  of 
church  or  state  is  the  only  authority  for  the  Sabbath. 
All  apologists  for  loose  Sabbaths,  to  accommodate 
loose  rulers  or  loose  times,  have  abetted  this  profane 
assumption  of  antichrist  Keeping  the  Sabbath  only 
on  the  ground  of  church  or  state  authority  surren- 
ders it  to  the  irreligion  or  caprice  of  any  age.  As  well 
submit  the  family  and  all  the  laws  of  the  Decalogue 
to  the  discretion  and  revision  of  each  succeeding  age 
as  the  Sabbath.  To  be  retained  in  its  sacred  charac- 
ter and  discipline,  the  Sabbath  must  be  cherished  as 
a  primitive  divine  law.  The  most  sacred  charter  of 
human   rights   is  wrested  from   mankind  under  pre- 


OBJECTION?;.  T33 

tence  of  defending  and  guarding  its  administration. 
The  usurped  trust  has  been  duly  honored  by  no  pre- 
late or  king,  and  flagrantly  compromised  by  both  ec- 
clesiastical and  civil  authorities.  The  Sabbath  must 
be  restored  to  its  original  sovereignty  above  church 
and  above  state.  As  an  original  ordinance  of  religion 
it  will  become  a  basis  of  the  reunion  and  discipline  of 
all  believers  in  God  and  a  future  life. 

h.  It  is  objected  that  Luther  especially  surrendered 
the  rigor  of  the  Sabbath.  Whatever  he  yielded  he 
conceded  to  tradition,  law  of  the  state,  and  customs 
of  society.  He  wished  to  make  as  few  issues  as  pos- 
sible with  Papacy.  His  warfare  against  ritualism 
made  him  attack  it  even  in  the  holy  Sabbath.  In  his 
fiery  eloquence  he  seemed  to  betray  that  divine  insti- 
tution. As  a  law  of  nature  the  Sabbath  might  be 
observed,  but  not  as  a  requirement  of  Papacy.  In 
his  "Table-talk"  he  says,  "  If  at  the  outset  I  inveighed 
against  the  law  both  from  the  pulpit  and  in  my  writ- 
ings, the  reason  was  that  the  Christian  Church  at  that 
time  was  overladen  with  superstitions,  under  which 
Christ  was  altogether  buried  and  hidden,  an  1  that  I 
yearned  to  save  and  liberate  pious  and  God-fearing 
souls  from  this  tyranny  over  conscience."  "  But  I  have 
never  rejected  the  law."  "  He  who  pulls  down  the  law 
pulls  down  at  the  same  time  the  whole  framev/ork  of 
human  polity  and  society.  If  the  law  be  thrust  out 
of  the  Church  there  will  no  longer  be  anything  recog- 
nized as  sin  in  the  world,  since  the  Gospel  defines  and 
punishes  sin  only  by  receiving  the  law."  Again,  "Let 
us  leave  Moses  to  the  laws  excepting  only  the  moralia, 


134  DEFENCE   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

which  God  hath  planted  in  nature,  as  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments." A  similar  apologetic  explanation  Lu- 
ther might  have  given  in  respect  to  his  apparent  dis- 
credit of  the  Sabbath.  His  commentary  on  Genesis, 
written  not  long  before  his  death,  acknowledges  the 
primitive  divine  appointment  of  the  Sabbath,  and  his 
hymns,  in  their  exaltation  of  the  Sabbath,  are  worthy 
of  a  Puritan  authorship.     In  1524  he  wrote  : 

"  Hallow  the  day  which  God  hath  blest, 
That  thou  and  all  thy  house  may  rest; 
Keep  hand  and  heart  from  labor  free, 
That  God  may  have  His  work  in  thee." 

In  1525,  again: 

"  Honor  My  name  in  word  and  deed. 
And  call  on  Me  in  time  of  need; 
Keep  holy  too  the  Sabbath-day, 
That- work  in  thee  I  also  may." 

/.  It  is  urged  that  though  the  Sabbath  may  have 
been  necessary  in  less  cultured  lands  and  ages  it  is 
now  superseded  by  the  progress  of  civilization.  Bi.t 
rest  of  body,  mind,  and  heart  were  in  no  age  or  coun- 
try more  necessary  than  in  this  country  and  in  this  age. 
Amid  the  quiet  of  shepherd  or  rural  life  continuance 
of  moderate  activity  might  not  have  immediately 
proved  fatal  to  soundness  of  body  or  of  mind.  But 
tlie  faster  life  of  our  modern  civilization  makes  the 
necessity  of  Sabbath  rest  more  obvious  and  impera- 
tive. The  more  various  and  exacting  the  toil,  tlie 
more   certain    and    inviolable    should    be    the    rest. 


OBJECTIONS.  135 

Never  has  tired  humanity  more  needed  to  have  the 
galling  yoke  of  the  world  removed  statedly  and  fre- 
quently from  its  chafed  neck.  But  the  provision  for 
higher  education  is  as  imperatively  needed  as  for 
rest ;  and  the  repose  of  night  after  the  labor  of  the 
day,  or  the  discipline  of  the  school  after  hours  of 
play,  no  more  require  to  be  rigorously  guarded  than 
these  beneficent  provisions  of  the  Sabbath.  Unap- 
pointed,  unenforced  discipline  will  neither  provide 
for  the  education  of  man  nor  the  worship  of  God. 

/  It  is  urged  that  making  one  day  more  sacred 
than  another  is  superstitious.  If  this  be  so,  cherishing 
paper  or  parchment  on  account  of  importance  of  rec- 
ords preserved  upon  it  is  a  low  sentiment.  The 
autograph  of  poet,  philosopher,  or  statesman  should 
be  cast  aside  as  the  written  name  of  any  of  the  mil- 
lions of  earth.  Instruments  conveying  crowns,  prov- 
inces, or  royal  estates  should  be  no  more  regarded 
than  a  scrap  from  a  merchant's  order-book,  or  any 
casual  mem>orandum.  All  research  into  family  or 
national  histor}^  all  original  documents,  deeds,  or 
charters  cherished  as  the  richest  legacies  of  learning, 
should  be  discarded  as  worthless  rubbish,  and  betray- 
ing a  superficial  and  superstitious  sentimentality. 
But  men  do  gather  and  cherish  as  legacies  of  learning 
these  pieces  of  parchment  on  account  of  the  records, 
inscriptions,  and  memorials  they  bear.  They  would 
not  be  exchanged  for  countless  rolls  of  untraced 
parchment  or  myriad  reams  of  unwritten  paper. 
Soiled  and  fragmentary  as  might  appear  a  man- 
uscript  of    the     Declaration   of    Independence   or   of 


136  DEFENCE  OF  THE   SABBAtH. 

Magna  Charta,  it  would  be  cherished  in  the  archives 
of  states  as  an  invaluable  treasure,  a  sacred  legacy. 
The  sacred  annals  of  the  race,  of  Redemption,  and 
of  prophecy,  all  inscribed  on  the  Sabbath-day  alone, 
give  it  a  value  above  all  the  records  of  all  the  days 
of  the  week.  Thus  consecrated  by  all  the  deepest 
experiences  and  aspirations  of  the  race,  as  well  as  by 
the  appointment  of  Heaven,  is  it  mere  sentiment  to 
hallow  the  day  above  all  other  days  ?  Then  let  us 
erase  from  our  calendars  birthdays  of  illustrious 
men,  the  anniversary  of  great  discoveries,  the  found- 
ing of  cities  or  of  empires.  Let  the  place  where  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed,  a  decisive  battle  was 
fought,  the  sight  of  Nineveh  or  Babylon,  the  Parthe- 
non at  Athens,  or  Caesar's  palace  at  Rome,  or  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem,  be  no  longer  objects  of  interest. 
The  Sabbath  localizes  the  operation  of  spiritual 
forces,  the  contemplation  of  spiritual  problems,  the 
inspiration  of  spiritual  hopes,  and  the  determination 
of  spiritual  destinies,  grander  than  the  achievements 
and  associations  and  promise  of  all  other  days. 

The  Sabbath  confirms  greater  rights  of  men, 
greater  interests  of  states,  greater  destinies  of  his- 
tory, than  all  the  political  charters  ever  framed  by 
man.  A  sense  of  what  the  Sabbath  celebrates  for 
man,  bequeaths  to  men,  guards  for  men,  should 
awaken  for  the  day  a  reverence  rising  to  worship. 
So  long  as  anything  is  venerated  on  earth,  those  not 
destitute  of  sentiment  as  well  as  piety  will  hallow  the 
Sabbath  according  to  divine  command.  It  will  never 
be  surrendered   till    atheism    broods  over  the   earth. 


OBJECTIONS.  137 

quenching  the  liglit  of  spiritual  being  as  well  as  im- 
mort^ity.  A  man  having  no  reverence  for  the  Sab- 
bath is  as  destitute  of  sentiment  as  of  piety.  The 
august  event  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  alone 
should  invest  the  day  with  the  symbolism  of  tlie 
supreme  interests,  experiences,  and  hopes  of  man- 
kind. 

k.  It  is  complained  that  the  Sabbath  is  too  rigorous. 
It  cannot  be  shown  that  any  rigor  of  Sabbatarianism 
could  have  been  superseded  by  a  milder  regime  with 
advantage  to  any  people  or  any  age.  Its  rule  was 
always  more  beneficent  than  that  of  philosophy  or 
aestheticism,  materialism,  or  of  any  faith  at  the  time 
possible.  There  is  no  evidence  it  could  have  been 
maintained  at  all  in  any  land  or  age  or  among  any 
people  by  relaxing  the  rigor  of  its  ceremonial.  When 
peoples  are  found  using  the  Sabbatli  for  rest  of  fac- 
ulties, worship,  and  high  culture  without  any  Sabbath 
conventionalism,  it  may  be  time  to  inveigh  against 
Sabbath  superstition.  There  can  be  no  other  way  of 
restoring  and  confirming  that  institution  but  increas- 
ing appreciation  and  reverence  for  it.  The  liberal 
theologians,  under  pretence  of  seeking  a  philosophical 
foundation  for  tiie  day,  destroy  its  sanction,  and  relax 
'its  hold  on  the  public  conscience.  What  danger  that 
this  materialistic  age  may  think  too  much  of  the  sanc- 
tity and  promise  of  the  Sabbath — that  they  will  give 
too  much  time  to  higher  culture  and  heavenly  medi- 
tations ?  The  orthodox  reverence  for  the  Sabbath, 
experience  has  shown,  is  no  greater  than  is  necessary 
to   preserve   its   holy  uses.     No  moral   law  has  been 


I3S        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

adequately  defended  by  expediency.  Basing  tlie 
Sabbath  on  expediency  instead  of  divine  autliority 
would  be  like  trusting  the  purity  of  the  family  to  the 
discretion  of  any  sensual  age.  If,  then,  the  Sabbath 
is  "blessed,"  let  us  not  be  afraid  of  claiming  divine 
blessing  and  sanction  on  its  observance.  If  supreme- 
ly good,  let  Divine  Providence  have  the  credit  of 
foreseeing  and  ordaining  it. 

As  Israel  relapsed  into  idolatry  when  Moses  with- 
drew from  them  into  the  mount,  so  men  will  lose 
their  reverence  for  the  Sabbath  when  it  is  no  longer 
a  divine  ordinance.  The  Sabbath  according  to 
Moses,  or  according  to  Christ,  may  continue  to  be 
hallowed  ;  but  a  Sabbath  according  to  social  science, 
or  the  ascertained  laws  of  hygiene,  or  social  progress, 
will  inspire  no  reverence  and  assure  no  general  ob- 
servance. 

/.  It  is  urged  that  any  Sabbath  law  interferes  with 
natural  liberty.  But  if  that  law  is  imbedded  in  the 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  constitution  of  man,  he 
has  no  natural  right  to  labor  all  the  seven  days  of 
the  week.  In  conveying  to  him  a  charter  of  natural 
rights,  the  Creator  explicitly  denies  him  such  liberty. 
He  cannot  assert  it  against  the  will  of  the  Creator. 
The  State  would  annul  or  interpolate  divine  law  by 
bestowing  it.  Appropriating  seven  days  each  week 
to  labor,  therefore,  impairs  natural  liberty,  by  ob- 
structing individual  and  social  well-being,  and  con- 
travening the  beneficent  purpose  of  the  Creator. 
The  darkness  of  night,  the  severity  of  winter,  the  law 
of  gravitation,  the  order  of  the  family  and  of  civil 


OBJECTIONS.  139 

government,  as  much    interfere  with  natural  liberty 
as  the  Sabbath. 

Indeed,  all  the  conditions  of  finite  being  might  as 
well  be  complained  of  as  obstructing  freedom,  as  the 
law  that  assures  the  rest  without  which  the  fullest 
development  and  happiest  destiny  of  man  cannot  be 
reached.  The  Sabbath  is  available  to  none  unless 
consented  to  by  all.  Desecrating  it  by  one  tends  to 
rob  all  of  their  rights  of  rest  and  worship.  As  all 
the  pupils  of  a  school  must  observe  decorum  to 
secure  to  any  the  highest  discipline  and  advantages 
of  the  school,  so  an  entire  community  must  hallo^v 
the  Sabbath  to  assure  its  richest  blessings  to  any. 

It  is  not,  as  assumed,  a  question  of  imposing  our 
religion  on  others,  but  of  others  imposing  their  irre- 
ligion  upon  us.  It  is  odious  selfishness  to  obscure 
the  divine  light  of  the  Sabbath,  as  it  would  be  to  veil 
out  the  sun's  radiance  from  the  walks  and  homes  of 
earth,  or  stop  the  flow  of  fountains  v/hich  slake  the 
thirst  of  a  famishing  world.  Montalembert  says, 
"The  liberty  of  believing  what  you  please,  or  of  not 
believing  at  all,  calls  for  a  certain  abstention  toward 
the  liberty  of  those  who  so  believe  ;  or  else  negation 
would  carry  the  day  against  affirmation,  minorities 
would  destroy  majorities  and  the  liberty  of  denial 
claimed  by  the  modern  spirit  under  the  name  of  tol- 
erance would  end  in  the  oppression  of  all  consciences 
and  the  destruction  of  all  worship." 

m.  It  is  urged  that  if  the  beneficence  of  the  Sab- 
bath is  unquestionable,  there  need  be  no  coercive  laws 
to  secure  its  observance.     Why  then,  if  civil  govern- 


t40       DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

mentis  beneficent,  have  police  and  penalties  to  enforce 
its  laws  ?  If  school  discipline  is  beneficent,  why  have 
compulsory  laws  of  education  or  compulsory  disci- 
pline of  schools  ?  Ancient  Egypt  with  its  decade  rest 
and  France  with  the  same  rest  guarded  its  inviola- 
bility. France  closed  shops  and  stores,  industries, 
and  governmental  affairs  as  strictly  under  that  re- 
gime as  she  has  under  the  restoration  of  the  more 
frequent  Sabbath  rest.  The  legal  defence  of  the 
Sabbath  is  therefore  justified  by  analogies  of  legisla- 
tion, by  the  precedent  of  observance  of  other  days, 
and  by  sacred  traditions  of  the  Jewish  and  the  Chris- 
tian world. 

n.  It  is  objected  that  as  Sabbath  observance  can- 
not be  enforced  beyond  the  culture  and  choice  of  the 
people,  therefore  no  Sabbath  laws  should  be  made. 
That  is  a  dangerous  fallacy,  that  no  statute  should  be 
framed  till  demanded  by  public  opinion,  however 
depraved  ;  and  that  all  laws  and  constitutions  may 
properly  be  reopened  before  mass-meetings  of  citi- 
zens, however  ignorant  or  violent,  and  repealed  or 
reaffirmed  by  a  mere  counting  of  votes.  The  moral 
law  was  binding  before  its  principles  were  recognized 
by  states,  and  it  cannot  be  abrogated  by  them. 
Moses  did  not  wait  till  the  Hebrews  had  enjoyed 
various  experience,  and  opportunity  for  deliberation 
of  popular  conventions,  and  a  formal  declaration  of 
the  code  they  were  willing  to  observe  before  reaffirm- 
ing the  family  and  Sabbath  laws.  Nor  have  democ- 
racies or  republics  any  discretion  in  regard  to  these 
primitive  institutions.     As  Mohammedanism  and  Mor- 


OBJECTIONS.  141 

monism  enact  treason  against  nature  and  God  in  set- 
ting aside  the  family  order,  so  do  men  in  the  abro- 
gation or  perversion  of  the  Sabbath.  Man's  right  to 
the  Sabbath  is  as  inviolable  as  the  right  to  his  prop- 
erty, his  family,  or  his  own  person.  Decree  of  mon- 
arch or  political  convention  can  no  more  free  man 
from  the  operation  of  Sabbath  law  than  from  the  law 
of  the  family,  the  order  of  the  seasons,  the  limita- 
tions of  day  and  night,  or  the  restraints  of  gravita- 
tion. 

o.  It  is  complained  that  Sabbath  penalties  are 
barbarous.  The  wisest  and  most  beneficent  laws 
sometimes  seem  oppressive  to  persons  or  classes. 
Unauthorized  interpretations  of  Sabbath  laws  may 
in  certain  cases  have  added  needless  severity  to  its 
operation.  Besides,  a  plea  for  those  shut  up  in  dingy 
factories  and  uncomfortable  homes  all  the  week — 
that  they  may  enjoy  on  the  Sabbath  the  light  and 
sweetness  of  nature,  the  freedom  and  gladness  of 
field  and  forest  and  seashore,  seems  plausible  and 
charitable.  Such  recreations  for  those  imprisoned 
by  cares  and  toils  through  the  six  days  seem  the  most 
needed  solace  to  them,  and  the  most  available  inspi 
ration  of  grateful  homage  to  the  Creator.  But  may 
we  jeopard  the  higher  by  our  method  of  pursuing 
the  lower  ends  of  the  Sabbath  ?  Or  may  we  sacrifice 
the  higher  culture  of  the  many  for  the  sake  of  the 
immediate  animal  comfort  of  the  few  ?  Must  the 
spiritual  nature  of  man  be  sunk  to  furnish  the  delec- 
tation of  his  animal  instincts  ?  Have  we  thoroughly 
tried  and  exhausted  all  other  means  before  resorting 


142        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

to  the  profanation  of  the  Sabbath   and   subsidizing 
the  soul  for  the  relief  of  the  body  ? 

Why  should  not  the  body  be  cared  for,  without 
trenching  on  the  rights  or  dignity  of  the  soul  ?  Man 
is  entitled  to  both  provisions  inviolate.  Is  not  a  sop 
given  to  his  appetites  to  silence  the  clamor  of  his 
soul  or  to  appease  its  immortal  craving?  Is  it  not  a 
covert  attack  upon  the  dignity  of  spiritual  manhood  ? 
Is  not  the  secularization  of  the  Sabbath  an  embodi- 
ment of  the  atheistic  inquiry,  "  Who  is  the  Almighty 
that  I  should  fear  Him  ?"  "  We  will  not  have  this 
man  reign  over  us."  This  humanitarian  plea  for  the 
secularization  of  the  Sabbath  is  but  a  covert  expres- 
sion of  selfish  humanity's  impatience  of  divine  law, 
and  directly  impeaches  the  philanthropy  and  practi- 
cal charity  of  Moses,  and  even  of  Christ.  Who  then 
are  the  men,  what  their  antecedents,  what  their 
achievements  in  philanthropy,  that  they  should  pre- 
sume thus  to  arraign  Moses,  who  freed  a  race,  found- 
ed the  most  democratic  code  ever  before  known, 
and  contributed  the  best  elements  to  the  govern- 
ments and  civilization  of  modern  times  ;  or  to  chal- 
lenge Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  greatest  friend  of  the 
poor  who  ever  appeared  on  earth  ;  who  left  rank  and 
power  to  consort  with  them,  lighten  their  burdens, 
sympathize  with  their  sorrows,  brighten  their  hopes  ; 
who  lifted  up  His  voice  over  earth  in  the  tenderest 
compassion,  "  Blessed  are  ye  poor ;"  whose  faith  is 
the  most  practical  scheme  of  philanthropy  ever  pro- 
posed to  men,  exalting  them  to  the  highest  realm  of 
personal,  social,  and  spiritual  well-being.     Anti-Sab- 


OBJECTIONS.  143 

batarians  sink  mind  and  morals  in  seeking  tne  rest 
of  ex  or  ass,  or  the  gladness  of  singing  bird  or  skip- 
ping lamb.  The  Book  of  Sports,  offered  as  a  bene- 
diction to  the  laboring  classes,  taught  them  to  dance 
around  Maypoles  on  Sunday.  But  they  were  easily 
wheedled  out  of  their  liberties  by  their  Sabbath-hat- 
ing tyrants.  Cromwell  and  his  derided  Sabbatarian 
followers  lifted  up  the  laboring  classes,  introduced 
the  principles  of  liberty  into  the  British  constitution, 
and  bequeathed  freedom  to  English-speaking  people, 
and  to  Europe.  Moses,  Christ,  and  the  Christian 
Church,  with  all  their  rigor  of  moral  discipline,  are 
better  humanitarians  and  surer  defenders  of  the 
rights  of  the  poor  than  atheists,  sentimentalists,  or 
any  Anti-Sabbatarian  Christians.  Providing  more 
directly  for  the  higher  elements  of  manhood,  the 
lower  are  better  assured.  If  the  higher  regime  of  the 
Sabbath  were  discarded,  all  the  humanities  of  life 
would  suffer  by  the  change.  The  excesses  and  vices 
inevitably  following  the  close  of  the  house  of  God 
would  prevent  the  hygienic  and  social  benefits  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  sink  the  masses  lower  and  lower  in 
discontent  and  brutality.  Often  the  Sunday  excur- 
sionist, after  ill-timed  hilarity,  boisterous  gayety,  in- 
temperance, and  violence,  return  with  jaded  looks, 
bad  habits  confirmed,  money  wasted,  garments  soiled, 
quarrels,  and  feuds  embittered.  Many  of  them  are 
worse  off  in  purse,  body,  and  mind  than  if  they  had 
been  denied  any  respite  from  toil.  On  the  other 
hand,  look  at  those  returning  home  from  Sunday- 
school    or    church.     Their    faces    are   more    cheerful, 


144        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

their   garments   clean,    their   countenances   beaming 
with   greater    intelligence,    and    lighted    up    with   a 
serener  peace  and  a  loftier  purpose.     The  Sabbath- 
keeping  and  churchgoing  poor  rise  in  every  form  of 
virtue  and  well-being,  happiness  and  hope,  above  the 
Sabbath-breaking  and  church-neglecting  poor.     The 
change  from  shop  or  comfortless  home  to  the  cheer- 
ful Sabbath  assembly  or  Sunday-school  is  a  great  and 
ennobling  recreation,  without  any  moral  exposure  or 
loss.     Other  forms  of  recreation  can  be  obtained  by 
abridging  hours  of  work  or  gaining  Saturday  after- 
noon for  amusement.     So  long  as  the  poor  accept  the 
Sabbath  as  a  holiday,  they  can  gain  no  other.     But 
retaining  that   for  its  true   uses,  they   can   gain  also 
needed    secular    rest.       Surrendering    this,    the    poor 
work    seven   days   for   the  wages    of   six,  and  prove 
themselves  unworthy  of  their  higher  rights.     Uniting 
with  the   Church  against  infidelity  and  selfish   mo- 
nopoly, they  will  retain  their  Sabbath  as  a  day  of 
inviolable   and   sacred   liberty.      No   man   becomes  a 
slave  while  he   enjoys  its  immunities  inviolate  ;    but 
surrendering  this  to  the  behest  of  the  world,  he  must 
fall  before  monopoly. 
(    p.yit  is  urged  that  we  owe  to  our  foreign-born  citi- 
*"^ens  the  courtesy  of  a  free   Sabbath.     What    limits 
should  be  assigned  to  such  courtesy  ?     If  limited  to 
unimportant  questions  of  taste  or  social  observance, 
any  concession  would  be  harmless.     But  if  extended 
to  sacred  convictions  and  customs,  existing  before  con- 
stitutions, and  formulating  them,  it  would  be  suicidal 
to  the  state.     The  Germans  filling  our  country  have 


OBJECTIONS.  145 

no  more  right  to  demand  the  substitution  of  their  sec- 
ularized Sabbath  for  our  holy  day  than  the  adoption 
of  their  tongue  as  the  state  language  of  the  Republic. 
Germans  have  no  more  right  to  displace  our  American 
Sabbath  by  holiday  observance  than  the  Mormons 
have  to  substitute  the  harem  for  the  family.  If  we 
would  spurn  the  liberty  which  by  the  force  of  ma- 
jorities in  Utah  or  other  parts  of  the  country  would 
overthrow  the  original  domestic  constitution,  we 
should  in  like  manner  the  liberty  which  claims  the 
right  to  annul  the  Sabbath  instituted  in  Eden,  en- 
forced by  Moses,  reaffirmed  by  Christ,  and  made  the 
foundation  of  our  American  civilization. 

q.  It  is  urged  that  the  observance  of  different  days 
in  different  lands  and  ages  discredits  special  divine 
authority  for  the  seve7ith  day  or  any  other  portion  of 
time.  If  a  sixth,  tenth,  or  twelfth  day  were  observed 
by  any  people,  it  may  be  doubtful  how  far  a  scrupu- 
lous observance  of  that  proportion  of  time  might 
answer  the  requirement  of  the  original  law.  Period- 
ical interruption  of  the  domination  of  the  world  may 
be  the  essence  of  Sabbath  law.  But  the  Sabbatic 
principle  seems  to  be  so  wrought  into  the  constitution 
of  man  and  the  chronologies  of  the  world,  that  those 
accepting  the  obligation  of  any  periodic  rest  would 
naturally  agree  upon  the  observance  of  the  seventh 
day.  Those  denying  the  obligation  of  the  fourth 
commandment  and  the  sanctity  of  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, deny  consecration  of  any  time  to  inviolable  rest 
and  worship.  Challenging  the  authority  of  the  Sab- 
bath of  Christendom,  disparages    the   sanction  and 


146  DEFENCE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

evades  the  obligation  of  any  Sabbath  observance.  It 
is  a  cavil  against  all  recognition  of  higher  law  and  a 
supreme  lawgiver.  Those  keeping  no  Sabbath  are 
"  without  God,  and  without  hope  in  the  world." 


II. 

Sabbath  Laws. 

"Our  Sundays,  at  the  matin  chime, 
The  Alpine  peasants,  two  and  three, 
Climb  up  here  to  pray." 

Various  reasons  require  the  legal  defence  of  the 
Sabbath. 

a.   Conservation  of  Mans  most  Sacred  Interest. — The 
state  protects  agriculture,  manufactures,  professions,  < 
schools   of   art,  and    beneficial   societies.     Why  then  | 
should  she  not  defend  religion— more  sacred  and  im-   i 
portant  to  man,  and   the  stability  and  welfare  of  so-    \ 
ciety,  than  any  of  these  ?     The  stillness  and  decorum 
of  the  Sabbath  are  insisted   on,  not  as  the  privilege 
of  a  sect,  but  as  a  provision  for  the  discipline  of  all 
faiths  alike.     No  religion  can  summon  man  to  rest,^^ 
worship,  and  higher  culture  without   the  sanctity  of 
some  holy  day.     Decorum  is  no  more  essential  to  the 
proceedings  of   a  school,  a    court,  a   congress,  or   an 
armv  than   to  the   culture  and   discipline  of  religion. 
But  as  in  these  secular  institutions,  this  decorum  of 
the  Sabbath  can  be  assured  to  none  unless  observed 
by  all.     A  secularized  Sabbath  blurs  moral  image  of 
society  as  a  disturbed  lens  the  likeness  in  a  photo- 
graph.    An  entile  community  must  keep  the  Sabbath, 


148        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

or  no  class  or  individual  can  have  it.  Enforcing  the 
quiet  of  the  Sabbath  for  the  enjoyment  of  all  citizens 
alike  no  more  creates  a  union  of  church  and  state 
than  protection  of  commerce,  profession,  or  school 
makes  the  state  a  partner  of  a  business  house,  a  man- 
ufacturing establishment,  a  law-firm,  or  a  member  of 
an  art  association.  Abandoning  the  highest  functions 
of  the  state  for  fear  of  compromising  her  dignity  or 
independence,  would  be  like  a  corporation  shirking  its 
organic  trusts  to  avoid  violating  its  by-laws,  or  like 
one  ending  his  life  to  avoid  the  possible  ills  of  exist- 
ence. The  fanatical  cry  "  church  and  state !"  will 
be  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  removing  the 
church  out  of  the  state,  and  God  out  of  the  world. 

d.  The  Sabbath  should  be  protected  as  a  tradition 
of  Christian  civilization.  Before  states  are  consti- 
tuted, the  principles,  maxims,  customs  and,  sacred 
convictions  exist  on  which  they  are  founded.  The 
rights  of  person  and  property,  the  sanctity  of  the 
family  and  the  Sabbath,  exist  before  and  are  more 
sacred  and  inviolable  than  any  civil  constitution.  The 
state  defines  and  defends  these  social  foundations, 
and  cannot  subvert  or  discredit  them  without  trea- 
son against  God  and  man.  The  Republic  received 
the  Sabbath  as  a  legacy  from  the  Christian  centuries  ; 
the  surrender  of  it  to  tlie  challenge  of  atheism  or 
the  greed  of  materialism  would  be  as  cowardly  and 
treacherous  as  the  betrayal  of  the  family,  the  rights 
of  property,  or  of  personal  liberty.  Sabbath  observ- 
ance, in  addition  to  its  divine  sanction,  enshrines  in- 
structive   histories,    impressing   and    educating    sue- 


SABBATH    LAWS.  I49 

ceeding  generations.  The  Strasburg  clock  Is  so  skil- 
fully constructed  that  in  measuring  time  it  repeats  in 
symbol  the  events  associated  with  corresponding  his- 
toric periods.  The  most  illiterate  are  kept  familiar 
with  sacred  history  by  marking  the  passing  hours. 
The  Sabbath  is  so  associated  with  the  economj^  of  time 
and  the  periods  of  history  as  to  marshal  before  each 
generation  and  every  community  the  most  sacred 
events  of  human  redemption.  Boundaries  of  duty 
and  of  holy  time  are  all  marked  by  its  stated  recur- 
rence, and  no  people  are  left  uncultured  hallowing 
the  Sabbath. 

c.  The  existence  of  Sabbath  laws  among  the  wisest 
nations  and  through  so  long  periods  justifies  their 
corftinuance.  It  seems  impossible  that  so  many  na- 
tions at  the  crisis  of  their  birth  or  political  revolution, 
of  their  greatest  mental  activity,  moral  purity,  and 
most  ennobling  sense  of  responsibility,  should  have 
erred  on  a  question  so  palpable  and  practical. 

Testimony  given  under  such  an  ordeal,  and  given 
so  uniformly  must  be  that  voice  of  the  people  which 
is  the  voice  of  God.  States  may  prune  away  excesses, 
or  vary  the  expression  of  Sabbath  laws  ;  but  they 
cannot  erase  them  entirely  from  their  statute-books 
without  going  back  upon  the  precedents  and  wisdom 
of  the  ages.  Following  this  universal  precedent  in 
formulating  Sabbath  laws,  the  Republic  cannot  allow 
them  trodden  down  by  the  swinish  feet  of  atheism  or 
of  materialism,  nor  surrender  them  to  follow  the  pre- 
cedents of  other  nations.  If  we  can  Americanize  the 
foreign  nationalities  flocking  to  our  shores  by  main- 


150  DEFENCE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

taining  our  American  institutions  the  Republic  may 
stand  forever.  But  if  we  surrender  the  Sabbath 
and  the  family,  her  foundations  may  be  subverted, 
and  our  civilization  and  our  Republic  perish  to- 
gether. 

d.  The  Sabbath  should  be  protected  as  an  appoint- 
ment for  higher  education.  It  may  be  doubtful  how 
far  the  state  should  attempt  to  patronize  scientific  or 
art  schools  or  colleges.  Mere  secular  education  in 
its  higher  forms  may  perhaps  be  properly  remitted, 
like  commerce,  industries,  and  professions,  to  private 
enterprise.  Only  the  education  necessary  to  good 
citizenship  can  without  challenge  be  undertaken  by 
the  state.  Industrial,  commercial,  and  moral  virtues 
— truthfulness,  justice  and  charity — are  far  more  im- 
portant to  individual  well-being  and  the  stability  and 
welfare  of  the  state  than  skill  in  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic.  If  compulsory  education  is  justified  to 
secure  lower  training,  much  more  is  it  to  assure 
higher  and  more  necessary  discipline.  It  seems  ab- 
surd to  fix  the  period  and  enforce  the  decorum  of  the 
school  to  attain  lower  education,  while  refusing  to 
guard  the  Sabbath  to  assure  higher  culture.  If  tlu; 
state  has  a  right  to  establish  school  periods,  and 
schools  for  the  training  of  her  citizens,  much  more 
has  she  a  right  to  protect  the  Sabbath  set  apart  from 
the  beginning  as  a  school  period  for  the  race.  This 
divine  ordinance  has  quickened  more  mental  activity, 
diffused  more  general  education,  and  stimulated  more 
ennobling  thought  and  high  culture,  than  all  the 
schools  and   universities  in  the  world    combined.     No 


SABBATH    LAWS.  151 

Sabbath-keeping  people  becomes  illiterate  or  immor- 
al.     They  win  liberty,  thrift,  and  high  civilization. 

e.  The  Sabbath  should  be  maintained  by  law  as  a 
necessary  and  effectual  barrier  against  demoraliza- 
tion. If  manhood  sinks,  the  state  goes  down  with  it. 
Bat  manhood  deteriorates  by  vice,  and  vice  springs 
from  impiety,  as  noxious  weeds  from  rich  but  neg- 
lected soil.  There  is  no  adequate  barrier  against 
demoralization  but  religion,  and  the  Sabbath  is  the 
necessary  institution  of  religion.  As  Holland  rears 
dikes  against  the  devastation  of  the  sea,  or  the  Re- 
public the  common-school  against  the  worse  ravages 
of  popular  ignorance,  much  more  should  the  state 
maintain  the  Sabbath  against  the  ever-menacing  flood 
of  demoralization. 

Greece  decayed  at  the  heart,  as  the  statue  of  her 
goddess  crowning  the  temple  of  Minerva.  Rome  fell 
before  debasing  Epicureanism  and  vaulting  ambition 
before  she  was  conquered  by  the  sword  of  Goth  and 
Vandal.  Modern  empires -are  more  menaced  by  the 
vices  honeycombing  their  institutions  than  by  the 
belligerence  of  rival  states.  If  religion  makes  vows 
kept,  only  the  Sabbath  can  keep  religion  in  its  moral 
discipline.  If  the  law  becomes  a  restraint  upon  the 
liberty  of  some,  it  is  for  the  welfare  of  all.  The  state 
does  not  punish  forger,  perjurer,  burglar,  incendiary, 
or  slanderer,  for  his  own  sake,  but  for  the  protection  of 
the  community.  Must  she  allow  Sunday  saloons  to 
educate  and  send  forth  criminals  to  ravage  society, 
and  then  send  out  her  police  to  arrest  and  punish 
them  ? 


152  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

May  the  state  close  courts  of  law,  counting-house, 
store  and  shop,  on  the  Sabbath,  and  leave  saloons, 
theatres,  and  other  haunts  of  vice  open  ?  Shall  the 
cockatrice  be  left  to  hatch  her  eggs,  and  send  forth 
her  brood  to  sting  and  poison  the  innocent  and  un- 
suspecting, with  the  uncertain  vigilance  of  the  police 
as  their  only  protection.  So  long  as  religion  vitally 
concerns  the  well-being  of  man,  the  Sabbath  must  be 
protected  as  the  foundation  of  its  worship,  higher 
education,  and  discipline. 

Constantine,  recognizing  the  necessity  of  a  Sab- 
bath foundation  for  his  new  faith  and  growing  em- 
pire, enacted  the  first  Sabbath  laws.  In  389  Emperor 
Leo,  adding  to  the  number  and  rigor  of  these  laws, 
made  the  following  proclamation  :  "  The  Lord's  Day 
we  deem  to  be  ever  so  honored  and  revered,  that  it 
should  be  exempt  from  all  compulsory  process  :  let 
no  summons  urge  any  man  ;  let  no  one  be  required 
to  give  security  for  the  payment  of  a  fund  held 
by  him  in  trust  ;  let  the  pleader  cease  his  labors  ;  let 
the  day  be  a  stranger  to  trials  ;  be  the  crier's  voice 
unheard  ;  let  the  litigants  have  breathing  time  ;  let 
the  rival  disputants  have  an  opportunity  of  meeting 
without  fear  ;  of  comparing  the  arrangements  made 
in  their  names  and  arranging  terms  of  a  comprise. 
If  any  officer  of  the  courts,  under  pretence  of  public 
or  private  business,  dares  to  despise  these  enactments, 
let  his  patrimony  be  forfeited."  With  the  advantage 
of  a  more  consolidated  and  commanding  empire,  a 
wider  prevalence  of  Christianity,  and  centuries  of  ex- 
periment in  Sabbatli  legislation,  Charlemagne  revised 


SABBATH   LAWS.  153 

and  republished  a  Sabbath  code.  In  the  dismember- 
ment of  his  empire  and  the  reconstruction  of  Govern- 
ment the  traditions  and  laws  of  this  code  were  in- 
corporated into  every  state  of  modern  Europe.  The 
Sabbath  laws  of  Holland,  Scotland,  and  England 
were  the  most  pronounced  and  rigorous.  Devotion 
to  the  Sabbath  characterized  alike  the  Puritan  settle- 
ments of  New  England,  the  Dutch  of  New  York,  the 
Quakers  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Catholics  of  Maryland, 
and  the  Huguenots  of  South  Carolina.  An  ordinance 
passed  in  New  Amsterdam  in  1656  forbids  "  any  or- 
dinary labor,  such  as  ploughing,  sewing,  mowing, 
building,  hunting,  fishing,  or  any  other  work  which 
may  be  lawful  on  other  days,  under  penalty  of  one 
pound  Flemish." 

In  1663  the  Director-General  and  Council,  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  previous  ordinances  had  been  miscon- 
strued as  applying  only  to  one  half  of  the  Sabbath, 
passed  an  ordinance,  declaring  that  these  laws  ap- 
plied to  the  entire  day  from  the  rising  to  the  going 
down  of  the  sun,  and  adding  numerous  specific  pro- 
hibitions, with  severe  penalties. 

In  1695,  after  New  Amsterdam  had  become  New 
York,  the  general  assembly  of  the  colony  passed  a 
law  which  "prohibited  travelling,  servile  labor  and 
working,  shooting,  fishing,  sporting,  playing,  horse- 
racing,  hunting,  frequenting  tippling-houses,  and  the 
using  of  any  unlawful  exercises  and  pastimes  upon 
the  Lord's  Day."  This  law  was  in  force  at  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  of  the  State  in  1777.  In  1788 
the   Legislature  of  the   State  of  New  York  passed  a 


154        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

law  for  the  protection  of  the  S^ibbath,  based  upon  the 
legislation  of  1695.  And  the  provisions  of  the  act 
of  1788  were  substantially  re-enacted  in  1813  and  in 
1830,  and  have  remained  unchanged  in  subsequent 
editions  of  the  Revised  Statutes.  In  subsequent 
amendments  provision  is  made  for  the  more  effective 
prevention  of  liquor-selling,  theatrical  and  similar  en- 
tertainments, and  noisy  parades  and  processions  on 
the  streets  of  cities  on  Sundays.  The  existing  Sun- 
day laws  were  substantiall}^  re-enacted  in  the  penal 
code  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York  in  1881. 

Though  perpetually  challenged  by  lawless  classes, 
these  statutes  have  been  again  and  again  vindicated 
by  the  courts,  and  maintained  by  the  enlightened 
public  opinion  of  the  commonwealth.  Similar  Sab- 
bath legislation  has  obtained  in  other  States,  with 
similar  challenge  and  similar  defence. 

New  Jersey,  with  the  three  largest  cities  of  the 
country  on  her  borders,  was  gradually  losing  the 
sanctity  and  traditional  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 
But  awakened  to  a  higher  appreciation  of  an  inviola- 
ble Sabbath  rest  through  discussions  and  appeals  of 
the  New  Jersey  Sabbath  Union,  she  has  recently  suc- 
ceeded in  enforcing,  in  most  parts  of  the  State,  the 
laws  against  Sunday  saloons  and  theatrical  enter- 
tainments. 

In  Pennsylvania  a  vigorous  alliance  has  recently 
resisted  a  movement  to  establish  a  permanent  Sab- 
l^ath  exhibition  in  Philadelphia,  with  success.  Later, 
mayor  and  police  have  suppressed  Sunday  saloons 
and  Sunday  theatres  in  the  same  city. 


SABBATH    LAWS.  1 55 

Maryland  has  shared  the  Sabbath  agitation  and 
various  Sabbath  reforms. 

The  other  Southern  States  have  not  been  indiffer- 
ent spectators  of  new  and  more  defiant  forms  of  Sab- 
bath desecration. 

Louisiana,  colonized  by  the  French,  had  no  consti- 
tutional Sabbath  laws.  But  in  1877  went  into  effect 
in  the  county  of  St.  Landry  an  ordinance  closing  not 
only  saloons,  but  all  places  of  business  on  Sunday. 
A  New  Orleans  journal  a  few  months  later  gave  the 
most  glowing  account  of  the  beneficial  influence  of 
the  change  upon  the  peace,  thrift,  and  morals  of  the 
whole  count}^ 

Owing  to  its  large  foreign  population  and  their 
European  ideas  of  the  Sabbath,  there  has  been  in 
progress  in  Cincinnati  one  of  the  greatest  struggles 
for  the  defence  of  the  Sabbath  which  has  occurred  in 
this  country.  Pastors  discussed  the  issue  in  their 
pulpits,  and  secular  journals  opened  their  columns 
to  the  presentation  of  both  sides  in  the  controversy  ; 
a  petition  to  the  legislature,  signed  by  Catholics, 
Protestants,  Jews,  and  Freethinkers,  demanded  greater 
protection  of  the  Sabbath  rest.  In  1883  a  law  was 
passed  prohibiting  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  on 
Sunday,  and  requiring  the  closing  on  that  day  of  all 
places  where  liquor  is  sold.  Notwithstanding  the 
beneficent  operation  of  this  law,  the  foreign  popula- 
tion and  the  liquor-dealers  are  resisting  it  ;  and  the 
question  of  temperance,  forced  into  politics,  waits  ad- 
judication by  existing  political  parties  or  the  organi- 
zation of  a  new  party. 


I  $6  DEFENCE  OF  THE   SABBATH. 

In  Chicago  there  has  been  a  Sabbath  agitation 
scarcely  less  earnest  than  that  in  Cincinnati.  While 
Protestants  have  preached,  published,  petitioned,  and 
voted  for  the  enforcement  of  Sabbath  laws.  Catholics 
have  vigorously  seconded  the  movement.  A  petition, 
signed  by  the  late  Bishop  Foley,  the  Roman  Catholic 
clerg3r,  and  some  fifteen  thousand  members  of  their 
parishioners,  was  presented,  March,  1879,  to  the  Com- 
mon Council,  asking  that  the  liquor-saloons  be  closed 
on  Sunday. 

Missouri,  with  her  higher  license-law,  has  recently 
re-enacted  the  prohibition  of  all  Sunday  saloons. 

After  an  unprecedented  popular  discussion,  Iowa 
has  pronounced  for  a  prohibitory  law,  closing  saloons 
week-days  as  well  as  Sundays. 

In  Wisconsin  a  new  temperance  agitation  has  toned 
up  public  sentiment  to  a  more  vigorous  protest 
against  the  Sunday  liquor-traffic. 

New  England  is  awaking  to  some  of  her  traditional 
jealousy  for  the  inviolability  of  the  Sabbath.  In  a 
thousand  towns  she  closes  saloons  on  Sunday.  Re- 
cently a  Sunday  train  over  the  Housatonic  Railroad 
from  Bridgeport  was  projected.  But  the  Board  of 
Railroad  Commissioners,  after  considering  the  dis- 
turbance of  the  Sabbath  quiet  and  the  inducement 
to  drinking  and  dissipation  such  a  train  freighted 
with  excursionists  would  introduce,  unanimously 
prohibited  the  conspicuous  example  of  Sabbath 
desecration. 

With  its  w^nlth,  control  of  railroad  stocks,  and 
railroad  managements.  New  York  is  likely  to  be  the 


SABBATH    LAWS.  I  57 

battle-ground  of  the  Sabbath  controversy  in  relation 
to  Sunday  railroads.  The  National  Sabbath  Com- 
mittee, located  in  the  metropolis,  has  been  most  effi- 
cient in  promoting  the  Sabbath  movement  at  home 
and  abroad.  They  helped  to  defeat  the  Sunday 
opening  of  the  World's  Fair  in  Philadelphia  in  1876. 
They  co-operated  with  the  friends  of  the  Sabbath  in 
Great  Britain,  in  inducing  American  and  British  ex- 
hibitors to  respect  the  Sabbath, 

Abroad,  as  well  as  in  this  countr}^,  a  new  zeal  has 
been  awakened  to  enforce  Sabbatli  laws.  In  Ireland 
Catholics  and  Protestants  united,  and  against  the 
formidable  opposition  of  brewers  and  publicans  car- 
ried through  Parliament  the  Irish  Closing  Bill.  It 
went  into  effect  in  1878,  and  has  been  followed  by 
a  marked  abatement  of  Sabbath  drunkenness  and 
crimes. 

Since  the  success  of  the  Irish  Bill  a  movement  has 
been  set  on  foot  in  England  to  close  saloons  through 
all  the  hours  of  the  Sabbath,  instead  of  part  of  them, 
as  at  present,  and  with  promise  of  success. 

In  Holland  a  Sabbath  movement  has  been  in- 
augurated, supported  by  the  clergy  and  the  Minister 
of  Justice,  to  improve  and  enforce  Sabbath  laws. 
■  The  General  Synod  of  Prussia  have  petitioned  the 
state  for  fuller  protection  of  the  Sabbath.  In  Berlin 
petitions  have  been  largely  signed  asking  suppression 
of  work  in  factories,  shops,  and  freight  traffic,  and 
the  restriction  of  post  and  railway  service,  and  for 
closing  all  places  for  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  on 
Sunday.    The  Imperial  Parliament  lias  already  passed 


158  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

an  order  forbidding  more  than  one  distribution  of 
mails  on  Sunday.  And  later  the  Upper  House  of  the 
Prussian  Diet  has  passed  a  resolution  forbidding 
hunting  on  Sunday,  under  penalty  of  heavy  fines  and 
imprisonment. 

Considerable  hopeful  agitation  of  the  Sabbath 
question  is  now  going  on  in  France.  In  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  it  was  voted  that  the  labor  of  minors 
under  eighteen,  and  of  females,  should  be  limited  to 
eleven  hours,  and  to  six  days  in  the  week. 

Deputy  Louis  Blanc,  an  extreme  radical,  favored 
fixing  the  rest  day  on  Sunday.  He  said,  "  The  weekly 
Sabbath  has  been  consecrated  by  all  religions,  and 
nowhere  is  it  more  strictly  observed  than  among 
Protestant  peoples,  who  are  pre-eminently  laboring 
peoples.  The  diminution  of  the  hours  of  labor  does 
not  involve  any  diminution  of  production.  In  Eng- 
land a  workman  produces  in  fifty-six  hours  as  much 
as  a  French  workman  in  seventy-two  hours,  because 
his  forces  are  better  husbanded.  No  pains  should  be 
spared  to  make  man  more  enlightened,  better,  and 
stronger.  It  is  this  which  constitutes  true  progress." 
A  new  workingmen's  party  has  been  formed,  and 
though  a  materialistic  movement,  one  of  its  first  con- 
stitutional principles  is  a  legal  prohibition  of  more 
than  six  days  labor  in  a  week. 

In  Switzerland  a  central  committee,  with  its  auxil- 
iary associations  in  most  of  the  cantons,  has  secured 
ameliorations  of  Sunday  work  among  Government 
employes  in  the  postal,  railway,  and  military  ser- 
vices.    A  new  Sunday  law  has  been  adopted  in  the 


SABBATH    LAWS.  1 59 

Canton  of  Zurich,  prohibiting  all  noisy  labor,  except 
in  cases  of  absolute  necessity.  Employers  may  not 
compel  subordinates  to  do  work  which  deprives  them 
of  the  Sabbath  rest.  Officials  may  discontinue  all 
public  business  except  what  is  manifestly  necessary. 
All  shops  and  stores  are  promptly  closed,  and  noisy 
processions  and  parades  strictly  forbidden  during 
hours  of  divine  service. 

Sabbath  societies  are  engaged  in  Milan,  Naples, 
and  elsewhere  throughout  Italy  to  restore  and  con- 
firm the  Sabbath  rest  to  laborers  and  employes,  and 
with  marked  success. 

A  Sabbath  Union  organized  in  Rome  pledges  its 
members  to  carefully  observe  the  Lord's  Day  them- 
selves, and  by  every  possible  means  promote  Sabbath 
observance  in  others. 

Sabbath  agitation  in  Austria  has  led  the  Minister 
of  Commerce,  Baron  de  Pino,  recently  to  address  a 
circular  to  the  post-office  department,  directing  the 
restriction,  so  far  as  possible,  of  postal  work  on  Sun- 
days. Some  postmasters  in  rural  districts  have 
petitioned  for  diminution  of  Sunday  work  in  their 
offices.  A  mass-meeting  in  Vienna  declared  that 
hitherto  the  capital  importance  to  working  men  of  a 
regular  day  of  rest,  alike  in  its  sanitary,  moral,  and  in- 
tellectual influence,  has  not  been  generally  recognized. 
Yielding  to  public  opinion,  and  to  avoid  Sabbath 
work  and  set  an  example  of  respect  for  the  Sabbath, 
journalists  of  Vienna  entered  into  an  agreement  to 
make  their  Monday's  issues  late  in  the  day.  While 
Catholic    Austria    sets    this    conservative    example. 


l6o  DEFENCE   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

Protestant  America  is  multiplying  her  Sunday  news- 
papers, allowing  them  to  be  hawked  through  the 
streets  of  all  her  cities,  and  boasts  of  special  trains 
from  the  great  metropolis  traversing  wide  States,  and 
scattering  Sunday  papers  to  divert  the  attention  of 
the  people  from  their  accustomed  Sabbath  observ- 
ance. If  the  tone  of  Sabbath  observance  is  sinking 
in  the  United  States,  it  is  gratifying  to  see  it  rising 
in  Europe. 

The  following  address  by  the  New  York  clergy,  in 
1858,  forcibly  sums  up  the  reasons  foi"  a  general  and 
more  rigorous  enforcement  of  Sabbath  laws  through- 
out Christendom  and  the  world  : 

"The  day  of  holy  rest  to  a  land  bearing  the  Chris- 
tian  name,  and  to  a  Republic  based  on  equal  rights, 
has  the  highest  civil  worth.  Man  needs  it  physically, 
as  a  season  when  labor  may  wipe  off  its  grime,  and 
breathe  more  freely  after  a  week's  exhaustion,  and 
care  shall  slacken  its  hold  upon  the  frame  and  the 
heart.  Man  needs  it  morally  to  rise  by  its  aid  out  of 
engrossing  secularities  and  materialism  to  the  re- 
membrance of  his  spiritual  interests,  his  final  ac- 
count, and  his  eternal  destiny.  Toil  needs  it  to 
rescue  its  share  of  rest  and  its  season  of  devotion 
from  the  absorbing  despotism  of  capital,  and  capital 
needs  it  to  shield  its  own  accumulations  from  the 
recklessness  and  audacity  of  the  imbruted  and  the 
desperate,  and  to  keep  its  own  humanity  and  consci- 
entiousness alive.  The  state  needs  it  as  a  safeguard 
of  the  pubHc  order,  quiet,  and  virtue  ;  human  laws 
I  ecoming,  however   wise   in    form,  effete   in   practice, 


SABBATH    LAWS.  l6l 

except  as  they  are  based  upon  conscience  and  upon 
sanctions  of  eternity  as  recognized  voluntarily  by  an 
intelligent  people.  And  God's  day  cultivates  one, 
and  reminds  us  of  the  other.  And  in  a  Republic 
especially  whose  liberties  under  God  inhere  in  its 
virtues,  the  recognition — freely  and  devoutly  by  an 
instructed  nation — of  God's  paramount  rights  is  the 
moral  underpinning  requisite  to  sustain  the  super- 
structure of  man's  rights  ;  and  without  such  support 
from  religion — not  as  nationally  established,  but  as 
personally  and  freely  accepted — all  human  freedom 
finally  moulders  and  topples  into  irretrievable  ruin." 
II 


in. 

Violations  of  the  Sabbath. 

**The  Sundays  of  man's  life, 

Threaded  together  on  Time's  string, 
Make  bracelets  to  adorn  the  bride 
Of  the  eternal,  glorious  King." 

a.  Sunday  Saloons. — The  saloon  is  an  unmitigated 
evil  any  day  of  the  week,  and  a  treble  curse  on  the 
Sabbath.  It  turns  the  holy  day  into  a  holiday,  sub- 
stitutes blaspliemy  for  prayer,  replaces  the  fellowship 
of  holy  worship  by  drunken  orgies,  and  opens  a 
descent  into  hell  from  the  very  gate  of  heaven.  The 
patronage  of  the  saloon  is  more  prodigal  and  enthu- 
siastic on  the  Sabbath  than  on  other  days,  as  if  in 
special  jubilation  over  increasing  debasement  of  labor, 
impoverishment  and  misery  of  homes.  It  were  better 
no  Sabbath  were  given  to  the  poor  tiian  that  tliey 
should  spend  it  in  dissipation.  Uninterrupted  toil  is 
not  so  debasing  to  body,  mind,  estate,  or  character. 
One  saloon  brightens  its  lurid  glare  by  quenching  the 
i)enignant  light  of  many  homes.  It  gives  louder  ex- 
pression to  its  boisterous  mirth  by  suppressing  notes 
of  joy  in  many  social  circles.  As  well  license  men  to 
commit  perjury,  arson,  robbery,  or  murder,  as  to 
authorize    them   to   inflame   the   appetites   of  a  com- 


VIOLATIONS   OF   THE   SABBATH.  163 

munity,  that  they  may  steal  away  their  reason,  con- 
science, self-respect,  and  domestic  happiness,  and  doom 
them  to  hopeless  miser}^  Giving  such  authority,  adds 
to  sacrilege  encouragement  to  flagrant  crimes.  When 
the  moral  sentiment  of  the  land  is  rising  up  to  pro- 
claim the  outlawry  of  the  week-day  saloon  it  ought  not 
to  be  difficult  to  unite  all  classes  in  closing  at  once  and 
forever  the  Sabbath  saloon.  It  should  be  branded  by 
both  public  opinion  and  by  law  as  the  "sum  of  all 
villanies."  It  fetters  souls  as  well  as  bodies.  It  uses 
the  day  set  apart  for  saving  men  to  destroy  them. 
The  freedom  of  the  saloon  continuing  its  ravages 
through  the  Sabbath  disgusts  sober  citizens  with  the 
weak  pretence  of  law  and  order,  and  suggests  the 
painful  contingency  of  vigilance  committees  to  abate 
the  monstrous  and  defiant  evil. 

b.  Sunday  Theatres. — The  Sunday  theatre  sinks  be- 
low the  moral  plane  of  wxek-day  plays,  to  the  taste  of 
the  more  prayerless  and  profane.  It  approximates 
the  character  of  the  saturnalia  of  Rome  in  her  deca- 
dence, and  becomes  a  prelude  to  every  carnival  of 
passion.  It  marshals  the  passionate  and  reckless,  like 
the  ancient  Bacchantae  thronging  the  temple  of  Bac- 
chus, and  ready  for  any  deed  of  shame.  Its  plays  are 
not  unlike  those  of  Paris  during  the  Reign  of  Terror, 
maddening  the  passions  which  craved  them,  and  pre- 
cipitating social  disorders  and  civil  anarchy.  Forty 
years  ago  the  country  was  shocked  at  the  report  of 
Sunday  theatres  in  New  Orleans.  But  now  San 
Francisco  and  Chicago  advertise  their  most  attractive 
plays  for  the   Lord's  Day  ;    and   they  sink    in    moral 


164  DEFENCE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

grade  with  the  baseness  of  the  Sabbath  desecration. 
They  often  lack  the  safeguards  and  decencies  of  the 
Parisian  playhouse.  They  press  against  Sabbath  laws 
and  traditions  as  a  menacing  flood  against  a  yielding 
breakwater,  threatening  to  devastate  the  whole  realm, 
of  morals.  In  the  Neiv  York  Tribune^  1879,  ^^^"^  pub- 
lished the  following  criticism,  adopting  the  well-known 
views  of  Manager  McVicker  against  Sunday  theatres: 
*'  I  share  with  him  the  hope  that  as  the  majority  of  the 
people  of  this  country  are  Christians  and  respect  the 
Christian  Sabbath,  the  practice  of  playing  on  Sunday 
nights,  such  as  now  exists  in  New  Orleans,  Chicago, 
and  one  or  two  other  cities,  will  be  ended.  I  can 
safely  say  that  no  actor  or  actress  has  ever  been  com- 
pelled by  me  to  play  on  Sunday.  ...  I  desire  to  put 
it  on  record  that  I  am  firmly  opposed  to  Sunday  per- 
formances, and  none  shall  ever  be  given  under  my 
management.  In  the  six  years  I  have  managed  the 
Union  Square  Theatre  there  have  been  many  offers 
made  to  open  it  on  Sunday  evenings  for  sacred  con- 
certs, lectures,  etc.;  but  it  has  never  been  opened  on 
those  evenings,  nor  shall  it  be  while  I  manage  it." 
But  the  protest  of  Booth,  McVicker,  and  other  honor- 
able managers  have  availed  little  in  opposing  the  rage 
for  Sunday  theatres.  The  protesters  themselves  have 
been  compelled  to  yield  their  scruples  to  the  growing 
recklessness  of  public  opinion,  and  some  cities  in  the 
number  and  character  of  Sunday  plays  and  playhouses 
are  more  infamous  than  Paris  or  Vienna.  Intimately 
associated  with  these,  and  opening  under  the  same 
license,    are  springing    up    Sabbath   club  and    dance 


VIOLATIONS   OF  THE   SABBATH.  165 

houses,  to  attract  the  vicious  of  both  sexes  for  assigna- 
tions and  debaucheries,  and  turn  great  cities  into  a 
Sodom.  The  abrogation  of  the  day  would  be  better 
than  a  Sabbath  inthralled  by  the  temptations  of 
theatres  and  playhouses.  There  can  be  no  adequate 
protection  of  public  morals  against  the  freedom  of 
such  assaults. 

c.  Sunday  Games. — Every  species  of  games  is  now 
claiming  the  freedom  of  the  Sabbath.  Horse-racing, 
discredited  by  our  fathers  at  any  time,  is  rising  to  the 
dignity  of  a  suitable  Sabbath  observance;  and  the 
right  to  open  a  race-course  within  the  limits  of  Chi- 
cago has  recently  been  pressed  before  the  courts. 
Sportsmen  will  not  be  slow  to  follow  up  the  promise 
in  village  races  throughout  the  country.  Where 
horses  are  not  found  suitable  for  the  amusement,  a 
dog-ring  will  be  opened  to  furnish  Sabbath  sports  ; 
or  a  cockpit  will  be  prepared  and  thronged  on  Sun- 
day by  those  drawn  from  the  house  of  God  to  enjoy 
more  congenial  excitements.  Especially  is  ball-play- 
ing becoming  an  approved  Sabbath  amusement. 
Trained  players  are  now  duly  announced  to  cham- 
pion rival  cities  in  the  skilful  use  of  ball  and  bat. 
In  a  recent  visit  to  Chicago,  seeking  a  sick  friend  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  city,  Sunday  afternoon,  we 
saw  six  or  eight  thousand  watching. and  applauding 
champion  players.  In  some  cities  when  ball-grounds 
are  closed  the  open  saloon  mocks  the  inconsistency, 
and  predicts  the  early  removal  of  the  restraint. 
Ball-grounds  cannot  long  be  tabooed  if  saloons  and 
theatres  and  playhouses  are  opened.     There  is  node- 


l66        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

fence  against  any  of  these  institutions,  except  enforc- 
ing :!ic  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath.  Tops,  kites,  balls, 
playhouses,  and  theatres  must  be  proscribed  by  the 
same  law  and  for  the  same  reasons. 

Voltaire  somewhere  observes  that  the  utter  demor- 
alization of  Roman  society  under  the  reign  of  Cali- 
gula and  Nero  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the 
entire  absence  of  faith  in  God  and  the  future  life. 
Governing  and  pacifying  people  by  recreations 
merely,  as  those  who  turn  the  Sabbath  into  a  holiday 
seek  to  do,  must  ever  prove  a  disastrous  experiment. 
Juvenal  satirized  the  attempt  to  conciliate  and  pledge 
the  loyalty  of  the  Roman  people  by  gifts  of  bread  and 
circuses,  when  through  popular  vices  society  was  has- 
tening to  the  reign  of  anarchy.  There  is  a  legend  that 
at  a  conclave  of  cardinals  in  Rome,  discussing  the  pos- 
sibility of  recovering  England  to  the  Papacy,  a  wily 
member  of  the  fraternity  said,  "  Take  away  England's 
Sabbath,  and  your  end  is  gained."  Broken  from  loy- 
alty to  God,  devotion  to  imposture  becomes  easy. 
Close  the  house  of  God,  and  caves  of  sorcery  are 
soon  opened.  Inthrall  a  people  in  Sabbath  recrea- 
tions, and  they  may  become  devotees  of  any  supersti- 
tion. Lord  Kames  says,  "  Power  and  opulence  are 
the  darling  objects  of  every  nation;  and  yet  in  every 
nation  possessed  of  power  and  opulence  virtue  sub- 
sides, selfishness  prevails,  and  sensuality  becomes  the 
ruling  passion.  Then  it  is  that  the  most  sacred  in- 
stitutions first  lose  their  hold,  next  are  disengaged, 
and  at  last  are  made  subject  of  ridicule."  Sir  Walter 
Scott  says,  *'  Give  the  vvoi  Id  one  half  of  a  Sunday,  and 


VIOLATIONS  OF  THE  SABBATH.  167 

you  will  find  that  religion  has  no  stronghold  of  tlie 
other."  Hence  the  holiday  Sabbath  nowhere  con- 
serves true  religion  or  true  civilization." 

d.  Sunday  Spectacles. — Sunday  spectacles  have  in- 
creased in  our  large  cities.  Various  orders  irriprove 
the  Sabbath  for  funeral  processions,  marching  through 
streets  and  avenues,  distracting  the  attention  of  all, 
and  disaffecting  them  toward  the  proper  observance 
of  the  holy  day.  Papal  dignitaries  returning  from 
Rome  have  not  infrequently  been  received  by  a  vast 
concourse  of  devotees  and  citizens.  The  Bishop  of 
Chicago  was  recently  welcomed  by  thirty  or  forty 
thousand  citizens,  including  the  mayor  and  other 
officials.  He  was  met  ten  miles  south  of  the  city,  and 
conducted  to  the  cathedral  and  to  the  episcopal  pal- 
ace, with  music,  banners,  and  the  insignia  of  civic 
orders.  The  pageant  filled  the  city,  obstructing 
Sabbath  observance,  and  secularizing  the  holy  day. 
Archbishop  Gibbons,  more  truly  appreciating  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  Lord's  Day,  on  a  similar  occasion  refused 
a  similar  ovation  from  the  City  of  Baltimore.  But 
these  ecclesiastical,  military,  and  civic  pageants  are 
menacing  the  sanctity  and  spiritual  uses  of  the  holy 
day. 

The  public  sentiment  that  tolerates  them  becomes 
indifferent  to  religious  worship  and  all  spiritual  cul- 
ture. It  encourages  Sunda}^  bull-lights  in  Spain  ; 
theatres,  military  reviews,  and  the  general  neglect  of 
tiie  house  of  God  in  France,  Belgium,  and  Austria  ; 
is  weaning  American  communities  from  their  Sabbath 
tradi lions  and  observance,  and    secularizing  the  Sab- 


l68  DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

bath  throughout  Christendom.  The  continuance 
of  Sabbath  spectacles  is  one  of  the  most  serious  ob- 
structions to  the  restoration  and  religious  uses  of  the 
holy  day.  A  recent  action  of  George  G.  Meade  Post 
No.  I,  Department  of  Pennsylvania,  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  is  a  sign  of  healthful  reaction  in  favor 
of  our  American  Sabbath.  At  a  stated  meeting  of 
this  Post  the  following  was  unanimously  adopted  : 

^^ Resolved^  That  this  Post  deprecates  the  violation 
of  the  Sabbath  by  Posts  of  the  Grand  Army,  in  ob- 
serving that  day  as  one  of  frolic,  by  public  camp-fires, 
and  other  inapppropriate  ceremonies,  in  violation  of 
the  laws  of  God,  of  the  commonw^ealth,  and  of  our 
rules  and  regulations  ;  believing  it  to  be  injurious  to 
the  morals  of  society,  and  greatly  detrimental  to  the 
interests  of  our  order. 

^^  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  this  resolution  be  for- 
warded to  Department  Headquarters,  and  we  trust 
that  measures  may  promptly  be  taken  to  suppress 
this  growing  evil  of  Sunday  camp-fires,  and  the 
like." 

Vigilance  of  Sabbath  committees  and  of  police  has 
been  successful  in  many  cases  in  arresting  this  ob- 
trusive evil.  A  New  York  regiment  returning  from 
Washington  on  a  certain  occasion  arrived  in  the  city 
on  Sunday  noon,  and  made  application  to  the  Super- 
intendent of  Police  for  permission  to  parade  through 
the  streets  to  its  headquarters.  The  reply  was  given 
that  the  law  explicitly  forbade  such  a  parade,  and 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  police  to  prevent  a  viola- 
tion of  the  law.     The  regiment  gracefully  bowed   to 


VIOLATIONS   OF  THE   SABBATH.  169 

the  authority  of  the  law  and  the  sanctity  of  the  Sab- 
batli.  On  another  occasion,  a  visiting  regiment  from 
anotlier  city  intending  to  land  and  parade  on  Sunday 
were  compelled  to  defer  their  landing  until  Monday. 
Only  by  arresting  public  attention,  appealing  to  tlie 
fidelity  of  the  police,  and  toning  up  the  Sabbath 
sentiment  of  the  country  to  a  chivalrous  loyalty  can 
the  Lord's  Day  be  preserved  from  the  insidious  secu- 
larization and  noisy  publicity  of  a  holiday. 

e.  Sabbath  Industries. — The  regular  sailing  of  ocean 
steamers  on  Saturdays  has  doubtless  encouraged 
other  steamers  to  plan  trial  trips,  or  various  excur- 
sions to  embrace  the  Sabbath.  Also  yachts  and 
smaller  sailing-boats  follow  the  contagious  example, 
and  spend  the  Sabbath  at  sea,  or  on  neighboring 
islands  and  coasts.  Repairs  of  sailing  craft  are 
often  attended  to  on  the  Sabbath,  for  no  other  ap- 
parent reason  than  to  save  time  and  money.  Steam 
foundries  and  machine-shops  continue  the  smoke  in 
their  chimneys,  and  the  thud  of  hammer  strokes 
through  all  the  hours  of  the  Sabbath,  with  no  better 
excuse  than  agriculturists  and  mechanics  throughout 
the  country  could  give  for  continuing  their  industries 
Often  carpenters,  cabinet-makers,  blacksmiths,  tobac- 
conists, printers,  pleading  the  exigencies  of  some 
contract,  and  encouraged  by  the  loose  Sabbath  senti- 
ment of  the  communi:y,  press  their  employes  into 
Sabbath  service,  robbing  them  of  inalienable  and 
sacred  rights,  and  deadening  the  sensitiveness  of 
their  conscience  and  all  sense  of  religious  duties. 
An  increasing  number  take  Sunday  newspapers  and 


170        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

advertise  in  them,  patronize  grocers,  butchers,  bak- 
ers, barbers,  and  milkmen  on  the  Sabbath.  It  is 
estimated  there  are  not  less  than  six  thousand  liquor- 
shops,  five  thousand  dry-goods  stores,  as  man}'  gro- 
ceries, two  thousand  cigar  stores,  a  thousand  restau- 
rants, a  hundred  photograpliic  galleries,  seventy-five 
exchange  offices,  and  fifty  pawnbrokers'  establish- 
ments opened  conspicuously  or  clandestinely  every 
Lord's  Day  in  New  York  alone.  The  classes  thus 
forced  to  labor  need  Sabbath  rest  and  moral  help 
more  than  those  who  exact  the  unrequited  and 
forbidden  toil.  How  little  of  this  service  could  be 
shown  to  be  ''works  of  necessity  and  mercy"  !  How 
large  a  part  of  it  could  easily  be  provided  against 
if  men  wished  to  hallow  the  Sabbath  !  Tlie  founders 
of  milk  factories  in  this  country  were  Christian  men, 
refused  to  receive  milk  from  the  farmers  on  the  Sab- 
bath, and  thus  saved  the  Sabbath  quiet  to  vast  rural 
districts.  Families  could  easily  supply  themselves 
with  condensed  milk  for  the  Sabbath,  and  thus  stop 
the  noise  of  milk-carts  in  the  streets  of  our  cities  on 
the  Lord's  Day.  Weekly  journals  could  be  issued 
and  circulated  on  Saturday  evenings,  and  thus  cut 
off  another  Sabbath  industry.  As  a  public  example, 
and  as  diverting  multitudes  from  public  worship,  the 
Sunday  press  is  one  of  the  most  potent  agencies  dese- 
crating the  Sabbath.  With  a  pronounced  Sabbath 
sentiment,  works  of  necessity  and  mercy — tlie  only 
proper  works  for  the  vSabbath — can  be  reduced  to  an 
unimportant  minimum.  The  mere  effort  to  rescue 
the  holy  day  from  these  needless  industries  will  tone 


VIOLATIONS   OF  THE   SABBATH.  I^l 

up  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  country,  and  impart 
a  higher  moral  impulse  to  citizens. 

f.  Sunday  Excursions. — The  seaside  resorts  opened 
to  New  York  and  other  great  seaboard  cities  are 
bringing  about  a  great -revolution  in  the  Sabbath  ob- 
servance of  these  large  populations.  Hundreds  of 
thousands  leave  New  York  alone  every  Lord's  Day 
of  the  summer  season  for  Coney  Island,  Rockaway, 
Long  Branch,  and  other  similar  resorts.  With  many 
these  Sabbath  recreations  are  instead  of  vacations 
from  business  during  the  summer.  A  much  larger 
number  take  their  families  for  a  holiday  on  the  beach 
and  in  the  surf.  The  Sabbath  thus  sinks  to  a  day  of 
recreation,  and  multitudes  gain  little  refreshment 
from  this  misuse  of  holy  time,  returning  at  night 
with  heart  full  of  restlessness,  envies,  jealousies,  and 
hatreds,  instead  of  contentment,  charity,  and  hope. 
The  average  Sunday  excursionist  is  less  refreshed 
physically,  intellectually,  and  morally  than  those  of 
the  same  class  and  occupation  spending  the  Sabbath 
in  Christian  converse  at  home,  and  in  the  house  of 
God.  Sunday  excursions  are  multiplied  to  lakes  and 
rivers  and  mountains  by  carriages,  or  along  principal 
or  branch  railroads.  Especially  railroads  having  little 
business  have  been  tempted  to  encourage  neighbor- 
hood excursions,  invading  retired  and  hitherto  quiet 
communities  with  noisy  crowds,  disturbing  quiet 
homes,  and  robbing  wide  regions  of  their  Sabbath 
stillness,  and  disturbing  village  and  country  churches. 
While  some  boards  of  management  have  encouraged 
Sunday  excursions,  the  New  York  and  Ohio  Railroad 


172  DEFENCE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

Company  recently  issued  this  order  :  "  After  this  date 
there  will  be  no  special  excursion  trains  run  over  this 
railroad  or  its  branches  on  Sunday."  Two  years  ago, 
J.  W.  Hobart,  Superintendent  of  the  Vermont  Central 
road,  sent  this  reply  to  an  application  for  a  special 
Sunday  train  :  "  It  is  useless  to  apply  for  Sunday 
trains,  because  our  rules  regarding  such  trains  are 
positive,  and  we  cannot  under  any  circumstances 
vary  them,  unless  in  case  of  distress — like  death  or 
destruction  of  property.  I  know  you  will  upon  re- 
flection see  the  propriety  of  our  taking  this  stand,  as 
we  should  otherwise  run  into  an  encouragement  of  all 
sorts  of  Sunday  gatherings,  which  inevitably  cover  a 
great  amount  of  drunkenness,  carousing,  and  swear- 
ing. The  public  so  far  sustains  us  in  our  position, 
and  even  those  interested  in  camp-meetings,  and  other 
religious  gatherings,  especially  desire  that  we  should 
not  vary  the  rule.  You  can  readily  see  that  unless 
we  have  such  a  rule  we  cannot  easily  discriminate 
between  religious  meetings  without  getting  into 
trouble  at  once."  Clearly  all  Sunday  excursions, 
whether  by  sea,  lake,  or  river,  by  private  carriages  or 
public  conveyance,  are  utterly  foreign  to  the  purposes 
of  the  Sabbath,  and  destructive  of  all  its  sacred  uses, 
and  hastening  the  general  demoralization  of  society. 
The  effect  of  Sabbath  excursions  may  be  illustrated 
by  sketches  of  some  which  occurred  in  the  summer 
of  1884.  The  following  notice  appeared  in  the  Neiu 
York  Sun  on  a  Monday  morning  in  July  : 

"  It  is  said  to  be  the  largest  single  excursion  party 
that  ever  went  to  Coney  Island.     A  large  banner  on 


VIOLATIONS   OF   THE   SABBATH.  1/3 

the  outside  of  the  car  announced  it  as  '  Lee's  One 
Dollar  Excursion.'  The  excitement  which  it  created 
on  Coney  Island  was  only  a  continuation  of  the  enthu- 
siasm which  it  had  aroused  along  the  line  of  the  Erie 
Railroad  during  the  last  two  weeks.  .  .  .  The  county 
newspapers  were  filled  with  flaming  advertisements, 
and  the  fences  were  covered  with  posters  announcing 
the  [Sunday]  excursion.  .  .  .  The  result  was  that  Mr. 
Lee  ordered  fifty  passenger  coaches  to  carry  the  peo- 
ple. .  .  .  The  first  train  of  sixteen  cars  left  Honesdale 
at  four  and  a  half  o'clock  yesterday  [Sunday]  morning. 
People  had  sat  up  all  night  to  be  ready  for  the  start. 
,  .  .  One  hundred  and  fifty  people  drove  to  Port  Jer- 
vis  from  Milford,  Pa.,  in  large  stages,  and  four  car- 
loads came  in  from  Monticello." 

No  less  than  three  trains  left  Port  Jervis  on  this 
excursion  ;  and  by  actual  count  fifteen  hundred  peo- 
ple of  a  population  of  ten  thousand  that  day  went  to 
Coney  Island.  People  waited  at  all  the  stations  to 
join  the  crowd  of  Sabbath  merry-makers.  By  actual 
count  the  Siin  declared  there  were  four  thousand  three 
hundred  on  this  excursion,  many  of  them  roaming 
through  New  York  all  day,  and  others  disporting 
themselves  in  the  sea  and  in  the  various  amusements 
at  this  famous  seaside  resort. 

Of  another  excursion  on  the  first  Sunday  of  August 
the  press  gave  this  sketch  :  "  The  Iron  Steamboats 
went  down  from  Twenty-third  Street  with  every  deck 
swarming  with  people,  and  at  Pier  i  they  found 
crowds  waiting  to  pour  on  board.  There  was  a  steady 
overflow  streaming   through  the  aBttery  to  the  Bay 


174        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

Ridge  boats  of  the  newly  organized  rapid-transit  ser- 
vice, and  the  condition  of  affairs  there  was  only 
slightly  improved.  The  Middletown  made  regular 
hourly  trips  from  this  point,  and  it  required  trains  of 
ten  and  twelve  cars  to  carry  away  the  loads  she  land- 
ed. All  other  lines  were  patronized  with  proportion- 
ate liberality.  ...  It  was  an  affair  of  elbowing  one's 
way  about  in  every  direction.  Besides  the  flow  from 
the  city  and  suburbs  there  were  two  large  excursions — 
one  from  Albany  and  the  other  from  Providence — 
dumped  upon  the  Iron  Pier.  There  were  no  less 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  people  on  the  isl- 
and between  two  and  five  o'clock." 

The  last  Sunda}^  in  August  a  picnic  sailed  from 
New  York  to  Linden  Grove,  on  the  New  Jersey  coast, 
with  well-stored  bar,  a  band  of  music,  and  flying  ban- 
ners. Though  embracing  both  sexes  and  all  £iges,  the 
majority  on  board  were  young  men  between  the  ages 
of  fifteen  and  twenty-five.  They  drank  freely,  and 
at  length  refusing  to  pay  for  their  drinks,  a  dispute 
arose  and  a  bloody  fight  followed.  As  the  conflict 
became  general,  noisy,  and  fierce,  the  bar  was  over- 
thrown, and  bottles  and  provisions  flew  in  every  di- 
rection. The  owner  of  the  goods  protesting  against 
the  destruction  of  his  property,  was  felled  to  the  deck, 
and  afterward  died,  leaving  a  wife  and  three  children 
to  mourn  the  ill-fated  Sabbath  picnic.  The  boat, 
turned  into  a  pandemonium,  gave  up  the  trip;  five  of 
the  ringleaders  of  the  riot,  to  avoid  arrest,  leaped 
overboard  and  swam  to  Staten  Island  ;  while  the 
spectators  were  so  .terror-stricken   they  did  not  dare 


VIOLATIONS   OF  THE   SABBATH.  1 75 

impede  their  escape.  Nor  were  any  arrests  made 
when  the  steamer  reached  her  dock. 

Not  to  be  outdone  in  secularizing  the  Sabbath  by 
New  York,  Boston  opened  her  fair-grounds  on  Sunday 
for  the  exhibition  of '' Buffalo  Bill."  Ten  thousand 
people  assembled  on  a  Sabbath  of  August  to  witness 
the  feats  of  buffaloes,  Indians,  and  trained  assistants, 
and  the  dexterity  of  this  expert  of  the  "Wild  West," 
in  lassoing  buffaloes,  robbing  stage-coaches,  and  per- 
forming other  tricks  of  the  circus.  These  are  not 
descriptions  of  scenes  occurring  at  National  Fairs  or 
at  the  meeting  of  National  Sporting  Clubs  ;  but  on  a 
day  set  apart  by  divine  ordinance,  and  by  the  usage 
of  our  fathers  as  a  holy  day — consecrated  to  religious 
worship  and  to  higher  education.  These  local  annals 
of  a  few  weeks  forecast  the  demoralization  sure  to 
follow  the  turning  the  American  Sabbath  into  an 
American  holiday.  A  new  Lakeside  resort  was 
opened  in  South  Ciiicago  in  the  summer  of  1885.  The 
first  Sunday  of  August  it  was  reported  two  thousand 
visited  the  beach,  and  five  hundred  dollars  were  re- 
ceived at  the  bar  of  tlie  pavilion.  Sabbath  ball-clubs 
are  being  formed  in  different  cities.  If  the  present 
trend  of  Sabbath-breaking  continues,  in  a  few  years 
the  decorum  of  the  Sabbath  will  disappear  from  all 
our  cities,  and  at  length  from  all  our  country. 

g.  Railroads. — At  the  AVorld's  Fair  in  Philadelphia, 
in  1876,  the  most  conspicuous  object  in  tlie  great  Hall 
was  the  Corliss  engine.  Through  connecting  shafts, 
bands,  and  wheels  it  moved  tlie  various  machinery  in 
different    departments    of    the   Exhibition.      Keeping 


I'j6  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABUATH. 

the  Sabbath  during  this  world's  spectacle  depended 
upon  arresting  the  motion  of  this  stupendous  engine. 
Following  foreign  Sabbath  customs,  seeking  to  piease 
foreign  exiiibitors,  and  looking  only  to  tlie  financial 
success  of  the   enterprise,  the  board  of  management 
were  almost  decided  to  open  the  fair  on  the  Sabbath- 
day.     But  opposition   of  a  portion   of  the  board,  and 
aroused  public  sentiment,  enforced   by  Mr.  Corliss's 
refusal  to  start   the   engine,  prevented   the  most  ob- 
trusive and  demoralizing  spectacle  of  Sabbath  dese- 
cration  ever  projected   in    this  country.     The  sturdy 
example  of  the  brave  New  England  Sabbatarian  toned 
up  the    Sabbath    observance    of    the   whole  country. 
The  railroad  system  holds  a  relation    to  the  world's 
travel   and  traffic   analogous   to   that  of  the    Corliss 
engine  to  the  World's  Fair.     By  stopping  the  trains 
of  business  and  pleasure  it  can  do  much  to  perpetu- 
ate the  Sabbath  traditions  and  observance  bequeathed 
to  us  by  our  fathers  ;  or  by  multiplying  them  it  can 
help  replace  our  holy  day  by  the  European  holiday. 
The  Sabbath  policy  of  railroads  will  be  determined 
largely    by    a    few    men.       In    the    inauguration    of 
through  trains,  by  management  centred  at  Chicago, 
two  out  of   three   controlling  great   corporations   re- 
sisted   further    encroachment   upon    the    Sabbath    as 
unnecessary  to  the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  roads, 
and  jeopardizing  the  moral  and  religious  welfare  of  the 
country.     But  the  third  superintendent,  with  a  greed 
for  dividends  and  no  reverence  for  religion,  gradually 
won  over  all  the  roads  to  the   policy  of  inaugurating 
thraugh    Sabbath    trains.     But   by  earnest    mediation 


VIOLATIONS   OF  THE   SABBATH.  I// 

those  most  appreciating  the  Lord's  Day  succeeded  in 
committing  three  roads  running  west  from  Chicago 
to  alternate,  and  run  but  one  instead  of  three  through 
trains  on  the  Sabbath.  That  measure  has  continued 
to  the  present  time.  To  m.ake  througli  trains  profit- 
able, way  business  and  business  on  branch  roads 
must  be  encouraged.  Merely  crossing  a  State  for  the 
mail  service,  through  travel  would  run  roads  in  debt. 
Hence  railroads  looking  only  for  financial  advantage 
must  encourage  way  travel  and  traffic,  and  thus  pro- 
mote universal  Sabbath  desecration.  Conservative 
men  have  protested  against  this  dangerous  trend  of 
railroads.  That  Christian  merchant  and  princely 
philanthropist,  W.  E.  Dodge,  insisted  to  the  last  that 
there  is  no  adequate  reason  for  running  railroads  on 
the  Sabbath.  He  withdrew  from  all  corporations  dis- 
posed to  extend  their  Sabbath  business.  The  most 
influential  manager  of  the  Delaware  and  Lack- 
awanna road,  it  is  understood,  would  stop  the  wheels 
on  the  tracks,  and  put  out  the  fires  in  the  shops  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  claims  that  this  could  be  done  with- 
out ultimate  disadvantage  to  the  roads,  and  with  great 
gain  to  the  public.  There  have  recently  been  re- 
peated illustrations  of  growing  scruple  to  reduce 
Sabbath  service  on  the  roads.  The  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania and  Ohio  in.  1880  changed  its  gauge  267 
miles  without  employing  a  laborer  on  the  Sabbath. 
The  Chicago,  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans  recently 
changed  its  gauge  549  miles  without  trespassing  upon 
the  Sabbath,  and  with  only  a  few  hours'  interruption 
of  their  regular  trains.  The  New  York  and  Ohio  not 
12 


i;8  DEFENCE   OF   TIIK    SABBATH. 

long  since  issued  this  order :  '•  Only  such  regular 
passenger  trains  as  are  required  to  comply  with  the 
demands  of  the  public  mail  service  and  traffic  from 
connecting  lines  will  be  permitted  to  run  on  Sundays. 
No  freight  trains  will  be  run  on  Sundays  except  such 
as  have  been  started  from  the  terminal  stations  before 
Sunday  morning,  except  as  are  required  to  provide 
for  the  forwarding  of  live-stock  and  other  perishable 
property,  for  the  detention  of  which  the  company 
might  be  held  liable." 

Recently  the  President  of  the  Louisville,  New  Al- 
bany and  Chicago  R.  R.  Co.,  Bennet  H.  Young,  issued 
an  order  forbidding  the  running  of  any  trains  on 
Sunday,  on  his  road,  except  those  carrying  United 
States  mails.  Subsequently,  in  The  Raihvay  Age, 
published  at  Chicago,  he  gave  the  grounds  of  liis  ac- 
tion: *' There  are  in  the  railway  service  of  this  coun- 
try, it  is  estimated,  five  hundred  thousand  persons, 
and  it  is  probable  that  more  than  half  of  these  are 
required  at  some  time  to  do  Sunday  service.  The 
result  of  thus  requiring  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand persons  to  violate  the  day,  simply  to  make 
money  for  the  corporations,  is  not  only  a  monstrous 
wrong  against  their  religious  and  family  rights,  but 
it  is  an  incalculable  injury  to  society  at  large."  The 
transportation  of  freight  seven  days  in  the  week  over 
the  great  trunk  lines  is  steadily  increasing,  and  pro- 
portionately increasing  the  number  of  Sabbath  em- 
ployes, and  the  number  of  those  associated  in  the 
growing  Sabbath  desecration. 

The    physical    and    moral     injury    caused     by   this 


VIOLATIONS   OF    IHE   SABBATH.  1 79 

enforced  disregard  of  Sabbath  rest  is  painfully  felt 
by  railway  employes  themselves.  Conscientious  men 
have  to  lose  their  places,  or  work  with  burdened  or 
blunted  consciences.  Neglecting  duty  to  God,  it  is 
not  strange  many  at  length  disregard  duty  to  men. 
This  insensation  of  conscience  affects  the  regulation 
and  education  of  their  families  and  their  intercourse 
with  the  community,  and  insidiously  abets  general 
demoralization.  A  pastor  of  a  church  at  a  large  rail- 
road centre  writes,  "  The  Spirit  of  God  is  moving  upon 
the  hearts  of  many  railway  employes  in  this  great 
railroad  centre,  and  the  question  is  constantly  arising, 

*  Can  I  be  a  Christian,  and  keep  my  job  on  the 

Railway,  that  requires  me  to  run  on  Sundays  ?' "  A 
pastor  in  another  railway  town  says,  "  We  are  distress- 
ed over  this  question  of  Sabbath  desecration  by  rail- 
ways. Conscientious  Christian  men  are  practically 
excluded  from  employment  on  the  road.  Christians 
who  accept  employment  soon  fall  from  grace.  Those 
employed  in  the  shops  may  of  course  keep  the  Sabbath 
if  the}'  will.  But  the  whole  influence  of  the  town 
is  demoralizing  in  the  extreme.  There  is  little  con- 
science respecting  the  Sabbath,  even  among  business 
men  and  manufacturers."  How  from  every  such  busi- 
ness centre  the  national  character  may  decay  as  by  a 
dry-rot !  But  the  feasibility  of  reforms  in  these  direc- 
tions is  illustrated  by  an  order  by  H.  B.  Ledyard,  Gen- 
eral Manager  of  the  Michigan  Central  R.  R.  Septem- 
ber, 1877: 

"To  Heads  of   Departments  :  I  desire  to  call  your 
attention  to    the  necessity  of  decreasing  the  amount 


l8o        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

of  work  on  Sunday  which  our  employes  are  called 
upon  to  perform.  Much  of  this  work  can  be  dispensed 
with.  Our  employes  sliould  as  far  as  possible  be  able 
to  rest  on  Sunday.  Each  head  of  department  will  be 
expected  to  so  regulate  the  work  of  his  department 
that  no  work  shall  be  done  on  that  day  except  such 
as  is  absolutely  necessary.  Division  superintendents 
and  train-masters  will,  when  practicable,  arrange  the 
run  of  their  men  so  that  they  can  be  home  on  Sunday." 

The  Welland  Canal,  a  thoroughfare  from  upper  to 
lower  Lakes,  twenty-five  miles  long,  is  closed  every 
Sabbath-day.  One  opening  a  lock  or  running  a  boat 
would  be  summarily  arrested.  Stopping  travel  and 
freight  uniformly  on  Sabbath  would  no  more  choke 
thoroughfares  than  they  are  now  choked  in  a  hundred 
passenger  and  freight  depots.  The  pressure  would 
still  increase  with  the  number  of  trains,  as  it  has  with 
speed  of  travel.  It  is  as  reasonable  to  demand  fur- 
ther increase  of  speed  to  avoid  choke  of  commerce 
and  travel  as  to  demand  another  day  to  relieve  it. 
Whatever  can  be  shown  to  be  a  work  of  necessity  or 
of  mercy  the  roads  can  provide  for.  But  the  best 
consciences  as  well  as  best  business  capacity  in  the 
country  should  combine  to  prevent  railroads — the  sym- 
bol of  our  material  greatness  and  glory — from  des- 
troying our  American  Sabbath,  and  thus  under- 
mining our  Republic. 

The  success  of  railroads  must  in  the  end  depend 
upon  the  greatness  of  the  country,  the  greatness  of 
the  country  upon  its  manhood,  and  its  manhood 
upon  the  moral  training  of  the  Sabbath. 


VIOLATIONS   OF   THE   SABBATH.  l8l 

There  may  be  said  to  be  now  a  general  suspension 
of  business  on  railroads  on  the  Sabbath.  Why 
should  it  not  be  made  universal  and  permanent? 
There  can  be  no  more  necessity  for  railroad  transpor- 
tation on  Sunday  than  for  other  methods  of  land 
transport.  Unless  railroads  conform  to  the  Sabbath 
law,  the  entire  carrying-trade  will  cease  to  do  so. 
Do  not  railroad  employes  as  much  need  the  liberty, 
rest,  and  benediction  of  the  holy  day  as  those  en- 
gaged in  other  industries  ?  Should  they  then  be 
summoned  to  service  on  the  Lord's  Day,  unless  by 
some ''work  of  necessity  or  mercy"?  To  the  ques- 
tion whether  anything  like  the  present  Sunday  ser- 
vice is  necessary  to  the  commercial  welfare  of  the 
country,  or  even  to  the  financial  prosperity  of  railroad 
corporations,  leaving  out  of  view  the  mental  and 
moral  culture  of  employes,  the  answer  from  all  com- 
petent judges  would  be.  No,  The  same  judges  would 
also  agree  that  measures  should  be  adopted  to  reduce 
the  Sunday  service  of  employes  to  the  lowest  prac- 
tical limit.  Those  having  assured  to  themselves 
personal  liberty  and  rest  on  the  Sabbath  should  nat- 
urally seek  to  assure  it  to  their  employes.  Our 
grandchildren  will  see  four  hundred  millions  of  Eng- 
lish-speaking people  in  the  world — two  hundred  mil- 
lions on  the  American  continent.  The  great  forces 
of  civilization  will  run  in  the  grooves  of  the  English 
language  and  civilization.  No  other  factor  will  be- 
come more  powerful  in  giving  moral  and  religious 
ascendancy  to  English-speaking  people  than  the 
preservation   of    the   Christian    Sabbath.      That   will 


1 82        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

unify  the  ruling  peoples  of  the  earth,  and  make  their 
ascendancy  conservative,  universal,  and  glorious. 

h.  Museums  and  Art  Galleries. — For  several  years 
there  has  been  an  effort  to  open  these  institutions  in 
England  and  in  this  country,  as  they  are  on  the  Con- 
tinent. This  is  even  proposed  in  the  interest  of  cul- 
ture and  morality.  But  while  the  more  cultured 
might  find  opportunity  for  improvement  without 
trespassing  upon  sacred  time  and  sacred  duties,  it  is 
found  the  uneducated  masses  are  not  attracted  by 
this  appeal  to  their  aesthetic  taste.  Religion  is  the 
first  impulse  to  refinement  in  barbarous  races  or 
vulgar  classes.  When  sensibilities  to  truth,  justice, 
charity,  goodness,  and  holiness  are  quickened  by  re- 
ligious conviction  and  motive,  there  is  a  true  basis  for 
aesthetic  culture.  But  seeking  to  elevate  the  masses 
by  diminishing  their  respect  for  religious  ordinances 
and  duties  must  end  in  conspicuous  failure.  Free 
the  illiterate  from  Sabbath  law  and  restraint,  and 
nine  will  hasten  to  low  theatres,  horse-races,  dog- 
rings,  gaming,  and  field  sports,  and  especially  to 
saloons,  where  one  will  visit  museums  and  art-galler- 
ies. Where  these  institutions  have  been  opened  they 
have  failed  to  attract  the  people  ;  while  the  patron- 
age of  all  haunts  of  vice  and  dissipation  has  greatly 
increased.  Tavern  and  saloon  keepers  have  been 
zealous  advocates  for  opening  museums  and  galler- 
ies, because  familiarizing  the  people  with  secular 
uses  of  the  Sabbath  will  indefinitely  increase  their 
business.  The  Committee  of  the  League  of  Liquor- 
sellers  in   1868  pleaded  before  the  Committee  of   the 


VIOLATIONS   OF   THE   SABBATH.  1 83 

House  of  Commons  the  necessity  of  keeping  open 
taverns  all  hours  of  the  Sabbatli  to  accommodate  the 
increasing  number  of  those  seeking  aesthetic  culture 
and  recreation  on  the  Sabbath.  It  is  manifest,  there- 
fore, that  the  illiterate  classes  generally  would  not 
be  stimulated  to  refinement  and  general  education  by 
opening  any  class  of  mere  secular  institutions  on  the 
Sabbath  ,  but  rather  removing  the  sanctity  of  the 
Sabbath  and  opening  wide  the  door  to  more  vicious 
pursuits  will  hasten  general  demoralization.  Such 
aesthetic  reform  would  bii-ng  no  culture  to  the 
masses,  but  instead  would  cut  off  the  divinely  ap- 
pointed means  for  their  spiritual  culture,  which 
might  also  promote  their  general  education.  While, 
therefore,  the  secular  institutions  would  be  no  boon 
to  the  dependent  and  illiterate,  they  are  wholly  unnec- 
essary to  men  of  culture  and  leisure.  They  can  find 
time  for  art  culture  during  the  week  without  dese- 
crating the  Sabbath  for  themselves,  and  profaning  it 
for  others.  They  have  no  more  excuse  for  seculariz- 
ing the  Sabbath  for  art  pursuits,  than  agriculturists 
for  fairs,  merchants  for  meetings  of  boards  of  trade, 
or  politicians  for  conventions  and  caucuses.  The 
opening  of  museums  and  art-galleries  might  logically 
be  followed  by  the  opening  of  shops,  factories,  count- 
ing-houses, government  offices,  places  of  amusement, 
and  saloons.  The  refinement  and  culture  offered  as 
a  compensation  for  the  surrender  of  our  Sabbath  tra- 
ditions is  a  delusive  promise.  Paris  boasts  such 
means  of  culture  ;  but  personal  immorality,  domestic 
infelicity,  and  scheming  crime   are   more   widely  dif- 


l84  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

fused  than  art  culture.  As  prostitution  of  the  Sab- 
batli  by  the  cavaliers  to  the  programme  of  the  Book 
of  Sports  was  disastrous  to  public  virtue  and  happi- 
ness, so  the  pretence  of  art  culture  in  France,  in 
place  of  Sabbath  w^orship  and  spiritual  culture,  has 
steeped  that  metropolis  in  the  vices  and  miseries  of 
Babylon  and  of  Sodom.  Mammon,  Venus,  and  Bac- 
chus boast  more  votaries  than  Mars,  Apollo,  or  Mi- 
nerva. The  character  and  arguments  of  those  oppos- 
ing this  dangerous  desecration  of  the  Sabbath  may 
be  instructive.  Not  long  ago  a  motion  in  the  Com- 
mon Council  of  London  to  open  Guild  Hall  Library 
and  Museum  on  Sunday  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of 
97  to  25.  In  May,  1882,  a  motion  in  the  House  of 
Commons  to  open  the  National  Museum  and  galler- 
ies on  Sunday  vi^as  defeated  by  a  vote  of  208  to  83, 
Mr.  Gladstone  and  his  two  sons  voting  with  the  ma- 
jority against  the  motion.  In  May,  1883,  a  similar 
motion  by  Lord  Dunraven  in  the  House  of  Lords 
was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  91  to  67,  and  a  substitute 
offered  by  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  adopted,  favoring 
the  opening  of  national  museums  and  galleries  on 
three  evenings  of  the  week. 

In  the  House  of  Lords  the  Duke  of  Argyle  said  : 
''  We  know  there  is  a  large  portion  of  the  artisan 
class  who  are  not  attached  to  any  particular  church, 
and  who  have  no  strong  or  definite  theological  opin- 
ions. Nevertheless  you  will  find  among  them  the 
greatest  possible  jealousy  as  to  all  those  notions 
tending  to  the  alteration  of  the  Christian  Sunday. 
What  is  this  instinct  founded   upon?     It  is  the  fee!- 


VIOLATIONS   OF  THE   SABBATH.  1S5 

ing,  perfectly  well  founded,  that  when  you  break 
down  the  religious  sanction  of  the  day,  the  legal 
sanction  will  be  broken  down  also.  Reference  has 
been  made  to  the  way  in  which  Sunday  is  spent  in 
other  countries.  In  South  Germany,  the  other  day, 
I  was  much  struck  by  the  fact  that  works  of  construc- 
tion were  carried  on  as  extensively  on  Sunday  as  on 
other  days,  and  the  scaffolding  outside  one  of  the 
finest  churches  was  occupied  with  men  who  were  at 
work  on  the  building.  The  working-classes  of  this 
country  feel  that  if  a  regard  for  Sunday  were  broken 
down  in  one  respect  it  would  be  broken  down  in 
others.  I  think  this  is  a  well-founded  jealousy,  and 
on  all  these  grounds  I  shall  vote  against,  as  being  in- 
expedient, an  abstract  resolution  tending  in  a  direc- 
tion of  which  the  working-classes  of  this  country  are 
justly  jealous." 

Mr.  Mundella,  a  member  of  the  Government,  and 
well  known  as  a  friend  and  advocate  of  the  working 
classes,  in  voting  against  the  Sunday  opening  said  : 
*'  It  has  been  said  that  it  was  a  question  for  decision 
by  public  opinion.  What  was  that  public  opinion  at 
present?  There  were  a  hundred  and  fifty-four  mu- 
seums in  the  United  Kingdom.  The  greater  part  of 
these  belong  to  municipalities,  yet  only  four  were 
opened  on  Sunday.  It  was  not  accurate  that  the 
reason  of  this  was  the  absence  of  art  culture  in  the 
town  ;  because  Nottingham,  with  two  of  the  finest 
museums  in  the  country,  showed  at  a  recent  election, 
by  rejecting  the  members  of  the  municipality  who 
were  in  favor  of  Sunday  opening,  that  they  were  ap- 


t86      defence  of  the  sabbath. 

prehensive  if  once  a  step  were  taken  in  this  direction 
its  consequences  could  not  be  foreseen.  The  Saturday 
half-holiday  gave  the  working-classes  those  facilities 
for  visiting  museums  which  was  thought  by  this 
motion  to  afford  them  on  Sunday.  People  did  not 
go  to  Hampton  Court  on  Sundays  to  see  pictures, 
but  lo  enjoy  social  intercourse  and  fresh  air.  .  .  .  But 
he  approved  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Broadhurst,  that 
museums  and  all  galleries  should  be  opened  between 
the  hours  of  six  and  ten  p.m.,  on  at  least  three  days 
in  each  week.  He  did  not  believe  that  the  working- 
classes  were  in  favor  of  opening  museums  on  Sunday. 
Until  the  national  sentiment  was  completely  changed, 
— until  it  was  in  favor  of  making  Sunday  a  day  of 
amusement  and  recreation  instead  of  a  day  of  rest, — 
he  held  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Government  not  to 
open  these  national  institutions  on  Sunday." 

Mr.  Broadhurst,  who  represents  a  large  constituency 
of  working-men,  said  :  *'  He  regretted  that  he  was 
obliged  to  oppose  the  motion,  and  he  took  this  view 
entirely  and  distinctly  in  the  interest  of  labor,  and  of 
that  cause  with  which  he  has  been  identified  all  his 
life,  namely,  that  the  seventh  day  should  be  distinctly 
and  fully  relieved  from  all  associations  of  labor.  He 
opposed  the  motion  also  upon  the  ground  that  the 
resolution  could  not  have  any  effect  but  to  loosen 
the  ties  that  now  bound  us  together  in  defence  of  an 
absolute  rest  one  day  in  seven  from  all  labor.  There 
was  no  demand  in  the  country  in  favor  of  this  motion. 
In  London  there  was  a  rich  and  well-appointed  so- 
ciety formed  to  forward  the  object  of  this  resolution  ; 


VIOLATIONS    OF   THE   SABBATH.  1 8/ 

and  though  they  advertised  for  weeks,  and  sent  cir- 
culars in  every  direction,  yet  the  result  was  that  the 
meeting  which  they  called  only  half  filled  St.  James' 
Hall.  If  the  museums  were  opened  from  six  o'clock 
till  ten  on  at  least  three  evenings  in  the  week  he  is 
sure  it  would  meet  with  general  patronage  and  ap- 
proval by  the  people  of  the  metropolis."  The  argu- 
ment which  had  been  put  forward  in  favor  of  obtain- 
ing the  Saturday  half-holiday  was  that  the  working- 
men  would  be  able  to  take  a  fair  share  of  secular  en- 
joyment on  Saturdays  at  the  museums  and  galleries 
which  were  properly  closed  on  Sundays.  But  if  the 
museums  were  opened  on  Sunday  what  became  of 
the  argument  for  the  Saturday  half-holiday?  If  this 
resolution  were  passed,  some  day  the  people  would 
have  cause  to  regret  that  they  ever  listened  to  a  pro- 
posal innocent  enough  on  the  face  of  it,  but  fraught 
with  the  most  certain  danger,  if  not  to  them,  to  their 
children,  as  the  tendency  would  be  to  encourage 
labor  on  Sunday." 

Lord  Shaftesbury,  than  whom  no  one  in  England  is 
better  known  as  a  friend  of  the  working-men,  in  an 
address  said  :  "A  large  number  have  told  me  that  it 
was  not  that  they  had  any  particular  regard  for  the 
sanctity  of  the  day,  but  that  they  knew  perfectly  well 
that  if  the  great  custom  and  law  with  regard  for  the 
Sabbath  were  broken  down,  there  would  have  to  be 
seven  days'  work  for  six  days'  wages.  Just  in  propor- 
tion as  the  religious  associations  of  Sunday  are  les- 
sened will  the  exactions  of  Sunday  labor  be  mul- 
tiplied." 


l88  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

Charles  Hill,  at  a  social  science  congress  in  Aber- 
deen, said  :  "The  real  opponents  of  liberty  of  con- 
science are  those  who  would  deprive  the  attendants 
at  places  of  amusement  of  that  day  of  rest  whicli 
they  are  now  enjoying,  and  which  they  look  upon  as 
a  sacred  day.  The  principle  on  which  Sunday  laws 
should  be  based  is  very  much  the  same  as  that  on 
which  the  factory  laws  are  based.  Laws  which  limit 
labor  (with  any  necessary  exceptions)  to  six  days  a 
week,  because  it  is  injurious  to  men  physically  and 
morally  to  toil  seven  days  a  week,  are  quite  as  neces- 
sary and  justifiable  as  those  acts  of  Parliament  whicli 
protect  the  dressmakers  and  the  workers  in  mines 
and  factories  and  workshops  on  week-days.  If  the 
laws  which  prohibit  Sunday  trading  and  the  Sunday 
opening  of  amusements  were  repealed,  the  spirit  of 
competition  would  rapidly  bring  about  the  same  con- 
dition of  Sunday  in  England  as  is  to  be  seen  on  the 
Continent,  where  labor  in  every  department  flourishes 
on  the  Lord's  Day.  If  the  national  museums  be 
opened  on  Sundays,  all  other  museums  and  places  of 
amusement  will  claim  to  open  also,  and  an  immense 
staff  of  persons  who  now  rest  on  Sundays  would  be 
immediately  required  to  work,  or  run  the  risk  of  being 
supplanted  by  others.  The  law  must  apply  alike. 
All  must  be  required  to  close  or  all  must  be  allowed 
to  open  on  Sundays.  There  never  was  a  time  in  our 
history  when  there  was  less  need  for  disturbing  the 
repose  of  Sunday.  Education  on  week-days  is  pro- 
vided by  tlie  state.  Books  are  obtainable  by  the 
poorest.     Amusements,   museums,  libraries,  and   art- 


VIOLATIONS    OF   THE    SABBATH.  1 89 

galleries  are  open  till  ten  or  twelve  o'clock  at  night. 
The  hours  of  labor  have  been  sliortened.  The  Satur- 
day half-holiday  is  enjoyed  by  millions.  Bank  holi- 
days and  summer  holidays  are  the  fashion  to-da}'. 
Facilities  for  breathing  the  pure  air  of  the  country  on 
week-days  are  within  reach  of  all.  Yet  it  is  said  these 
are  not  sufficient.  The  seventh  and  every  day  must 
be  devoted  to  entertainments  and  amusements  ;  the 
museums,  galleries,  and  all  similar  places  must  be 
opened  on  Sundays.  Fortunately,  those  who  ask  for 
such  an  alteration  of  the  law  are  but  a  small  minor- 
ity, and  they  will  not  be  able  successfully  to  oppose 
the  will  of  millions  of  thoughtful,  earnest  men,  who 
feel  with  Count  Montalembert  that  '  there  can  be  no 
religion  without  public  worship,  and  there  can  be  no 
public  worship  without  a  Sabbath.'  " 

The  London  Quarterly  Review  writes  upon  this  sub- 
ject :  "  But  the  labor  which  necessity  drags  at  the 
wheels  of  pleasure  is  not  a  tithe  of  what  in  fact  in- 
variably follows  pleasuring  on  Sunday.  Human  na- 
ture will  say  work  is  as  good  as  play.  If  the  day  is 
not  too  sacred  for  throwing  away  money,  it  is  not  too 
sacred  for  gathering  it.  If  some  must  work  or  be 
cast  out  of  bread,  others  will  work  for  love  of  gain. 
Hence  when  exhibitions  are  open  on  Sunday,  so  are 
shops.  To  the  masters  it  may  be  choice  ;  but  what 
is  it  to  the  servants  ?  Those  who  have  seen  Europe 
must  know  that  where  Sunday,  is  turned  to  pleasure 
labor  comes  heavily,  not  onl}^  on  workmen,  but  shop- 
keepers ;  that  the  retirement  of  country  parishes  is 
no  protection  to  the  farm-servant,  nor  the  heavy  toils 


190  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

of  a  city  mason  any  excuse  against  Sunday  drudgery. 
When  men  who  liave  seen  this  with  their  own  eyes 
come  and  talk  of  breaking  down  our  Sabbath  for  the 
benefit  of  working-classes,  we  declare  it  a  barefaced 
imposture." 

Dr.  S.  H.  Wiley  of  California  expresses  the  follow- 
ing sentiments  on  the  dangerous  tendencies  of  this 
movement:  "Remember  this  is  eminently  a  matter 
of  the  prevalence  of  public  opinion.  Public  opin- 
ion has  been  historically  and  overwhelmingly  on  the 
side  of  Sunday  observance,  and  it  has  carried  other 
things  with  it  ;  but  once  let  it  get  running  the  other 
way,  and  it  will  flow  with  the  force  of  a  flood.  Peo- 
ple will  lose  their  scruples  or  will  bury  them.  They 
will  set  to  work  justifying  themselves  in  secularizing 
the  day.  And  how  easy  it  will  be  for  them  to  think 
what  they  want  to  think  ;  and  when  influential  people 
and  leaders  of  opinion  express  and  practise  such  sen- 
timents, how  easy  will  it  be  for  crowds  of  other  peo- 
ple to  do  the  same  !  " 

A  movement  has  recently  been  made  to  open  mu- 
seums and  art-galleries  in  New  York  and  other  large 
cities  of  the  country.  A  New  York  journal  repre- 
senting the  better  sentiment  of  the  press  and  the 
country  thus  discussed  the  project:  ''The  Sunday 
rest  is  of  inestimable  value  to  the  working-classes  in 
every  point  of  view,  and  never  more  so  than  in  this 
age  and  country.  Many  influences  combine  to  en- 
cioach  upon  it,  which  it  is  becoming  harder  every 
year  to  withstand.  Large  numbers  of  persons  even 
now  are  compelled  to  work  on  Sundays  on  our  rail- 


VIOLATIONS    OF   THE   SABBATH.  I9I 

ways,  steamboats,  in  repairs  of  machinery,  and  even 
in  manufacturing  when  any  special  stress  of  business 
gives  employers  an  excuse  for  insisting  on  extra  work. 
Now  the  main  defence  against  such  encroachments  is 
tiie  popular  regard  for  the  Sabbath  as  a  religious  in- 
stitution, and  that  line  of  distinction  between  it  and 
other  days  which  is  based  on  this  regard.  To  over- 
tlirow  any  part  of  this  line  of  defence  is  to  weaken 
the  whole.  The  laws  which  protect  the  Sunday  rest 
will  become  a  dead  letter  when  they  no  longer  repre- 
sent the  customs  and  conviction  of  the  people.  Capi- 
tal, driven  by  the  eager  competitions  of  business,  will 
have  little  difficulty  in  exacting  the  whole  or  a  part  of 
Sunday  when  it  becomes  merely  a  question  of  spend- 
ing it  in  pleasure  or  work.  The  experiment  has  been 
tried  in  Europe.  The  factory-men  of  Germany  are 
now  asking  for  laws  which  shall  restore  to  them  their 
lost  Sunday  rest ;  and  the  streets  of  Paris  are  full  of 
men  who  have  to  work  seven  days  in  the  week,  while 
the  last  vestige  of  legal  recognition  of  their  right  to 
rest  has  disappeared  from  the  French  code.  To  the 
claim  that  the  working-men  need  healthful  recreation 
one  answer  is  obvious — that  the  Park,  with  its  varied 
attractions,  is  open  to  all,  and  there  is  unrestricted  ac- 
cess to  the  surrounding  country  for  those  who  choose 
to  seek  recreation  in  this  way.  Sufficient  opportu- 
nity to  inspect  the  two  museums  is  furnished  by  the 
half-dozen  regular  holidays  of  the  year,  with  the  oc- 
casional breaks  in  business  that  happen  in  all  trades, 
together  with  the  shorter  hours  of  work  on  Saturday, 
which  ev^ery  one  should  help  to  bring  about.     To  sup- 


192  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABIJATH. 

pose  that  any  persons  who  now  frequent  the  liquor- 
shops  will  be  drawn  away  from  them  by  adding  to 
the  present  attractions  of  the  Park  the  opportunity  to 
stroll  through  the  museums,  is,  as  the  London  Times 
puts  it,  *  rather  remote  from  robust  common-sense.' 

"It  is  fair  to  add,  that  with  no  small  part  of  those 
who  favor  the  Sunday  opening  of  the  museums  this  is 
but  a  step  toward  the  further  measures  of  music  in 
the  parks,  the  opening  of  theatres  and  dance-halls, 
etc.  They  believe  in  a  Paris  or  Vienna  Sunday,  and 
intend  to  have  it  if  they  can  ;  unmindful  of  the  fact 
that  in  this  country  such  a  Sunday,  while  a  day  of  un- 
restrained pleasure  to  the  few,  would  soon  involve  un- 
broken toil  to  the  many.  The  Rev.  Edward  Everett 
Hale  has  well  said  '  that  the  institution  of  Sunday, 
if  it  is  instituted  at  all,  will  be  maintained  for  the 
nobler  purposes  of  the  higher  life.'  It  is  the  view  of 
the  case  here  presented  which  has  led  the  intelligent 
\voiking  men  of  London  to  resist  the  repeated  efforts 
which  have  been  made  to  open  the  British  and  other 
national  museums  on  Sunday.  On  occasion  of  the 
last  attempt  of  this  sort,  so  strong  was  the  feeling 
that  in  twelve  days  the  Workingmen's  Association  of 
London  secured  fifty-eight  thousand  signatures  to 
petitions  against  the  measure.  Mr.  Gladstone,  Lord 
Beaconsfield,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  Lord  Chancellor  Sel- 
borne  (Sir  Roundell  Palmer),  Sir  Charles  Reed,  Chair- 
man of  the  London  School  Board,  and  Lord  Ebury, 
are  among  those  who  have  spoken  and  voted  against 
the  Sunday  opening." 


IV. 

Theories  of  the  Sabbath. 

•' God's  Sabbath  !     Oh  forgive 

That  we  use  Thy  gifts  so  ill  ; 
Teach  us  daily  how  to  live, 

That  we  ever  may  fulfil 
All  Thy  gracious  love  designed, 

Giving  Sabbaths  to  mankind." 

Three  principal  theories  of  the  origin  and  sanctions 
of  the  Christian  Sabbath  have  been  maintained. 

The  ecclesiastical  theor}^,  held  substantially  by  the 
Papacy  and  ritualists,  is  this  :  Individual  churches, 
without  any  order  by  Christ  or  His  Apostles  or  Moses, 
held  their  assemblies  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
and  thus  consecrated  it  to  the  observance  and  rever- 
ance  of  mankind.  This  observance  has  extended 
with  Christianity,  and  through  appeal  for  uniformity 
and  recommendation  of  ecclesiastical  councils,  the 
first  day  became  the  Sabbath  of  Christendom. 

'With  only  such  basis  and  sanction  the  first  day  of 
the  week  may  perhaps  bind  the  conscience  of  Church- 
men, but  not  of  the  increasing  minority  of  Dissenters. 
Feeling  a  growing  distrust  of  usurpations  of  divine 
prerogatives  by  civil  or  ecclesiastical  rulers,  they  will 
hallow  no  Sabbath  merely  because  enjoined  by  church 
or  state.  Those  seeking  to  magnify  the  authority  of 
13 


194  DEFENCE   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

the  church  by  denying  that  of  divine  law,  only  lowei 
tlie  sanction  of  the  Sabbath,  and  make  it  impossible 
to  assure  for  it  the  reverence  of  mankind  generally. 
Secularization  of  the  Sabbath  in  papal  lands  and 
under  national  establishments  shows  the  impotence 
of  human  authority  against  the  appetites  and  pas- 
sions of  men.  Accepting  its  divine  authority  would 
enforce  its  observance,  hasten  the  unity  of  Christen- 
dom, and  exalt  Christ's  Lordship  over  the  earth. 
Holding  that  the  Scriptures  are  no  sufficient  guide 
in  religion  without  the  Cliurch,  it  is  not  strange  that 
High-churchism  should  in  like  manner  attempt  to 
bolster  up  the  authority  of  the  Sabbath.  Dean  Hook 
calls  it  an  "ordinance  of  the  Church."  Again  he  Sciys, 
"We  prove  the  divine  authority  of  confirmation  b\' 
precisely  the  same  argument  as  that  i^y  whicli  we  es- 
tablish the  divine  authorit}^  of  the  Lord's  Day."'  Tims 
a  tradition  is  elevated  to  the  rank  of  a  divine  ordinance, 
or  a  divine  ordinance  is  degraded  to  tlie  level  of  a 
tradition.  Dr.  Arnold,  following  for  the  most  |)art 
Heylin,  Bishop  White,  and  Sanderson,  holds  "  tliat 
the  establishment  of  the  Lord's  Day,  whether  by  the 
Apostles  or  their  successors,  was  an  afterthought,  was 
a  matter  of  Christian  expediency  only,  was  the  result 
of  their  disappointment  at  discovering  that  men 
could  not  at  once  do  without  something  like  the  pro- 
visions of  the  abolished  Jewish  law.  It  was  therefore 
only  intended  to  be  a  temporary  enactment  of  tlie 
spirit  of  the  fourth  commandment,  and  was  to  endure 
no  longer  than  men  should  require  such  an  aid  to 
their  Cin'islianity.      The  re-enacters  of  couise  hoped 


THEORIES    OF   THE    SABBATH.  I95 

and  believed  that  this  would  soon  cease  to  be  the 
case  ;  and  doubtless  St.  Paul,  were  he  to  revisit  earth, 
would  be  surprised  to  find  that  Christians  had  not  yet 
learned  to  dispense  with  an  institution  too  similar, 
alas!  to  that  which  the  Jews  required." 

With  this  view,  ever}^  one  for  himself  ma}^  imagine 
the  time  for  abrogating  the  Sabbath  has  come,  and 
deny  its  further  claims,  and  at  once  reduce  it  to  the 
secularity  of  week-days.  Thus  forecast  and  provi- 
dence are  denied  to  the  Founder  and  Lawgiver  of  the 
Church,  and  religious  discipline  is  left  to  the  varying 
judgment  or  caprice  of  different  lands  and  ages. 

Hessey  declares,  in  his  learned  treatise  on  the  Sab- 
bath, "I  hold  that  the  Lord's  Day  is  as  to  its  origin 
much  on  a  par  with  confirmation.  And  this,  while  it 
would  at  once  exclude  it  from  the  category  of  posi- 
tive institutions  ordained  b}^  Christ  Himself,  would 
also  enable  me  to  claim  for  it  (on  this  ground  alone, 
whatever  others  may  be  adducible),  an  apostolic  and, 
so  far  as  anytliing  apostolic  can  be  called  divine,  a 
divine  origin."  Such  distinction  between  apostolic 
and  divine  authority  is  unauthorized  and  misleading. 
What  Moses  enjoined  was  no  more  binding  upon 
Israel  than  what  inspired  Apostles  enjoined  upon 
the  Christian  Church.  Besides,  the  greater  Lawgiver 
than  Moses  declared,  "The  Sabbath  was  made  for 
man,"  and  therefore  could  not  be  annulled  so  long  as 
man  remains  on  earth.  This  th'eory  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal basis  of  the  Sabbath,  though  varying  in  its  state- 
ment and  explanation,  is  liable  to  the  most  serious 
objections. 


196       DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

a.  It  overlooks  and  discredits  the  real  scriptural 
basis  for  the  Sabbath.  As  blessing  the  lower  orders 
of  animals  at  their  creation  assured  their  perpetuity 
on  the  earth,  blessing  the  seventh  part  of  time  pro- 
mised to  it  a  permanent  distinction,  and  observance 
by  mankind.  There  is  an  ineffable  majesty  in  the 
solitary  grandeur  of  this  benediction.  It  rises  up 
from  the  meagre  annals  of  the  most  stupendous  events 
as  a  lone  mountain  peak  from  a  plain.  When  so  few 
things  are  told,  what  are  told  must  be  of  supreme 
importance.  Whatever  that  blessing  meant  for  one 
age  it  meant  for  all  ages.  It  fixed  an  ineffaceable 
mark  on  the  seventh  proportion  of  time.  It  hallowed 
one  day  in  seven  for  devout  observance.  It  was  the 
natural  source  of  all  Sabbatic  observance  and  all  Sab- 
batic division  of  time.  Why  then  trace  the  Sabbath 
to  some  unexplained  custom,  instead  of  tracing  all 
various  Sabbath  customs  to  the  primitive  divine  ben- 
ediction and  law  ?  Why  claim  that  by  a  spiritual  in- 
stinct man  discovered  the  Sabbath  law  as  a  constitu- 
tional law  of  his  being,  instead  of  claiming  that  the 
law  was  framed  to  meet  these  religious  instincts  and 
necessities  ?  This  reversion  of  the  proper  order  of 
reasoning  might  be  expected  pf  those  denying  divine 
revelation,  and  insisting  on  scientific  basis  for  every 
institution,  but  not  of  those  who  accept  the  authority 
of  Moses.  Admitting  the  authority  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  they  should  affect  our  interpretations  of 
divine  ordinances.  The  Mosaic  account  of  God's 
blessing  the  seventh  day  must  have  a  vital  relation  to 
any  true   interpretation  of  Sabbath  law.     The  divine 


THEORIES   OF  THE   SABBATH.  I97 

blessing  and  divine  repose  after  periods  of  creation 
must  furnish  a  basis  and  sanction  for  any  obligatory- 
Sabbath.  The  day  is  thus  associated  with  the  creation 
of  man  and  the  constitution  and  order  of  nature.  It 
roots  itself  in  divine  law  and  human  conscience.  It 
demands  a  reverence  civil  or  ecclesiastical  law  can- 
not inspire.  The  turning  from  such  natural  and 
divine  foundation  for  the  Sabbath  has  risen  perhaps 
unconsciously  from  the  habit  of  finding  sanction  for  all 
religious  discipline  in  the  state  or  church.  The  Bible 
is  of  only  secondary  importance  to  Papist  or  High- 
churchman.  He  thinks  it  no  teacher  without  the 
interpretation  of  the  Church,  and  hence  no  Scriptural 
evidence  need  bind  the  conscience  without  her  assent, 
while  the  most  doubtful  Scriptural  inference  is  sacred 
law  if  indorsed  by  the  doctors  of  the  Church.  But  a 
single  word  of  God  on  the  Sabbath  is  more  authori- 
tative than  whole  volumes  of  the  traditions  and  inter- 
pretations of  men. 

b.  The  ecclesiastical  theory  of  the  Sabbath  makes 
any  sacred  basis  for  a  holy  day  for  all  mankind  im- 
possible. 

Papacy  might  bind  the  consciences  of  those  trust- 
ing her  infallibility  to  the  Sabbath,  but  not  the  vo- 
taries of  any  other  Christian  creed.  Those  dissenting 
from  her  on  other  points  would  be  predisposed  against 
her  Sabbath  discipline.  The  Greek  hierarchy  might 
pledge  to  the  Sabbath  her  own  votaries,  but  not  those 
outside  of  her  communion.  So  the  English  or  Luth- 
eran Church  might  enforce  the  Sabbath  upon  their 
own  members,  but  not  upon  dissenters.     Thus  basing 


198  DEFKXCE   OF   THE   SABBaTH. 

the  Sabbath  on  civil  or  ecclesiastical  enactment  denies 
it  the  sanction  of  an  unchallenged  universal  divine 
law.  It  would  be  like  making  the  family  depend 
upon  the  legislation  and  authority  of  particular  states, 
or  particular  ecclesiastical  courts  instead  of  primitive 
divine  institution.  The  Sabbath  sinks  as  would  the 
family  with  only  such  uncertain  and  feeble  sanction. 
As  well  make  the  force  and  sanctions  of  the  laws  of 
nature  depend  upon  the  uncertain  and  sometimes 
contradictory  articulation  of  them  by  particular 
scientists,  as  make  the  obligation  and  observance  of 
the  Sabbath  depend  upon  the  variable  definitions  of 
civil  or  ecclesiastical  law.  The  Sabbath  dawns  upon 
all  lands  and  ages  alike;  as  the  light  of  the  morning, 
and  the  benediction  of  the  seasons  it  comes  to  all,  in 
the  same  invariable  order  and  divine  authority. 

c.  This  theory  of  the  Sabbath  involves  the  profane 
assumption  of  Antichrist.  It  steps  in  between  the 
divine  Lawgiver  and  His  subjects;  professing  to  inter- 
pret and  apply  the  law,  it  abolishes  or  rliscredits  it. 
It  makes  the  operation  of  a  law  of  infinite  beneficence 
contingent  upon  the  will  or  caprice  of  men.  It  is 
like  placing  a  dispensation  over  the  air,  permitting 
its  waves  to  refresh  the  breathing  world  only  after 
they  have  been  measured  out  to  each  community  or 
person,  or  it  is  like  allowing  no  water  supply  to  thirsty 
earth  not  gauged  by  ecclesiastical  commissioners,  or 
filtered  through  their  creeds.  Civil  or  ecclesiastical 
law  assuming  to  define  or  give  sanction  to  the  Sab- 
bath, always  betrays  it.  Professing  to  secure  to  men 
the    Sabbath,   it    wrests   it    from    them.      ]\Ian   cannot 


THEORIES   OF   THE   SABBATH.  I99 

afford  to  accept  the  Sabbath  as  a  gift  from  tlie  state 
any  more  than  the  family  or  the  Decalogue.  It  is  a 
symbol  and  defence  of  inalienable  rights.  It  is  a  creed 
and  lit  irgy  for  the  world.  It  postulates  and  cele- 
brates the  brotherhood  of  the  race,  and  the  universal 
Fatherhood  of  God.  In  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the 
world  this  may  be  the  first  homage  or  rite  to  be  ob- 
served by  the  heathen.  With  one  divine  Sabbath 
tlie  race  may  at  lengtli  receive  one  faith.  But  as  an 
institute  of  Rome  or  any  oilier  ecclesiastical  body  it 
will  never  become  the  Sabbath  of  the  world. 

Apologists  for  loose  Sabbaths  to  accommodate 
loose  rulers  or  loose  times,  accept  the  Sabbath  merely 
as  an  uncertain  human  tradition,  which  may  be  varied 
or  abolished  according  to  the  supposed  exigencies  of 
the  times.  Keeping  it  only  on  the  ground  of  church 
or  state  authority,  surrenders  it  to  the  irreligion  or 
caprice  of  any  age.  Under  pretence  of  guarding  its 
administration,  this  most  comprehensive  and  sacretl 
charter  of  human  rights  is  wrested  from  mankind. 
This  administration  when  usurped  has  never  been 
duly  honored  by  prelate  or  king,  but  is  always  com- 
promised, whether  by  civil  or  ecclesiastical  authority. 

There  is  a  semi-ecclesiastical  theory  of  the  Sabbath  set 
forth  especially  by  Hessey:  "Whether  some  moral 
consideration  which  the  Mosaic  law  did  not  furnish 
for  the  first  time,  and  which  therefore  survived  its 
abolition,  did  not  from  the  nature  of  the  case  consti- 
tute a  reason  for  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Day, 
which  we  are  justified  in  finding  if  we  can,  and 
whether  again  the  Mosaic  law,  as  one  development  of 


200       DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

the  moral  consideration,  was  not  as  in  other  matters, 
so  in  this  suggestive  of  something  connected  with  it, 
are  points  which  I  reserve  for  the  present.  So  far  as 
we  have  gone,  the  external  character  of  the  Lord's 
Day  at  the  close  of  the  first  century  appears  to  be  that 
of  a  positive  institution.  It  is  a  day  of  Christian 
assembling  at  short  intervals  of  time,  on  which  cer- 
tain duties  to  God,  to  man's  self,  and  to  his  neighbors 
were  performed.  This  positive  institution  would 
seem,  both  in  its  essence  and  in  the  circumstances 
which  we  have  found  attached  to  it,  to  possess  what- 
ever of  divine  sanction  origination  by  inspired  Apos- 
tles can  bestow.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  interval 
between  one  Lord's  Day  and  another  is  of  the  same 
length  as  that  between  one  Sabbath  and  another. 
But  nothing  Sabbatical,  either  in  the  sense  of  com- 
manded rest,  or  in  the  way  of  implication  that  the 
whole  of  it  is  to  be  employed  in  directly  religious 
observances,  or  that  such  religious  observances  as  are 
employed  should  be  cast  in  a  particular  mould,  or 
that  such  and  such  acts  were  prohibited  during  its 
continuance — nothing,  I  say,  of  this  sort  is  to  be  found 
in  what  we  call  the  charter-deed  of  the  institution  of 
the  Lord's  Day." 

'''Whatever  of  this  sort  afterwards  formally  be- 
longed to  it,  is  of  ecclesiastical  ruling  in  the  lower 
sense  of  the  term, — is  obligatory  in  a  secondary  de- 
gree only,  in  deference  to  the  voice  of  the  ancient 
Church,  or  that  of  our  own, — or  as  suggested  by  the 
nature  of  the  case  or  by  Christian  charity,  or  by  con- 
siderations of  public  utility." 


THEORIES   OF   THE    SABBATH.  201 

Dr.  Hawkins  ("  Bampton  Lectures  for  1840")  gives 
an  able  and  conservative  view  of  the  authority  of  and 
sanction  of  the  Lord's  Day : 

"We  have  absolutely  no  need  of  such  an  ample  ar- 
ray of  scriptural  proof  to  convince  us  of  the  divine 
original  of  an  ordinance,  as  we  might  have  desired 
for  our  belief  in  a  revealed  doctrine.  Nay,  we  may 
not  only  acquiesce  in  a  less  amount  of  proof,  but  even 
observe  ...  in  such  a  difference  one  of  numerous 
instances  of  a  merciful  accommodation  to  our  wants, 
everywhere  to  be  traced  throughout  the  whole  econ- 
omy of  divine  revelation.  The  religious  observance 
of  the  Lord's  Day,  for  instance,  is  almost  universally 
acknowledged  as  a  Christian  duty  throughout  the 
Christian  world.  And  a  cheering  thought  it  is, 
amidst  our  manifold  divisions,  to  observe  scarcely  a 
single  sect,  and  not  a  single  church,  interrupting  on 
this  great  article  of  belief  the  general  concord  ;  mil- 
lions of  our  brethren  offering  at  the  same  hour  their 
solemn  protest  against  irreligion  and  idolatry,  and 
suspending  their  cares  and  toils  to  celebrate  the  re- 
demption of  the  world,  and  adore  with  one  consent  the 
one  true  God,  our  Creator,  Redeemer,  and  Sanctifier. 
Is  it  even  necessary  that  the  duty  should  be  explicitly 
enjoined  in  the  Christian  Scriptures,  which  even  with- 
out a  specific  command  can  be  distinctly  perceived, 
and  this  not  only  by  the  considerate  Christian,  but 
even  by  the  statesman,  the  moralist,  the  philanthro- 
pist, to  be  at  once  a  duty  and  a  blessing  ?  To  the 
poor — that  is,  to  the  great  majority  of  our  race  in  every 
land  and  under  every  condition  of    society — this  day 


202        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SADBATH. 

of  religious  rest  is  simply  a  boon.  If  a  seventh  part 
were  added  to  the  amount  of  labor,  although  the  num- 
ber of  the  poor  might  be  increased,  their  temporal 
condition  would  be  exactly  what  it  is.  But  suppose 
the  weekly  rest  abandoned,  a  seventh  part  would  not 
therefore  be  added  to  the  produce  of  labor  ;  for  the 
physician  knows  that  this  merciful  provision  for  a  re- 
mission of  human  toil  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the 
best  exertion  of  strength  of  man,  bodily  or  intel- 
lectually. And  how  much  more  does  every  religious 
man  feel  it  to  be  essential  to  the  well-being  of  our 
higher  nature,  to  the  health  of  the  soul,  and  for  our 
preparation  for  that  future  existence,  which  is  our 
real  life  !  But  then  assuredly  the  statesman  and  the 
philanthropist  would  never  of  themselves  have  de- 
vised or  enjoined  the  ordinance,  nor  can  even  its  ex- 
ternal observance,  greatly  as  it  may  be  promoted,  be 
effectually  secured  by  any  efforts  of  theirs.  We  must 
look  to  higher  sources  for  the  origin  of  the  duty  and 
its  obligations. 

"We  trace  back,  accordingly,  the  general  observ- 
ance of  the  Lord's  Day  to  the  very  era  of  the  promul- 
gation of  the  Gospel.  We  find  the  universality  of  the 
practice  recognized  by  the  earliest  extant  writings, 
genuine  or  apocryphal — by  Ignatius,  Justin,  the  epistle 
attributed  to  Barnabas,  the  so-called  apostolic  con- 
stitutions, as  well  as  by  various  other  works  of  the 
second  and  third  and  succeeding  centuries.  And 
this  universal  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day  is  ren- 
dered specially  striking,  not  only  by  varieties  of 
practice  in  other  cases,  but  even  in  respect  of  the  Jew- 


THEORIES   OF   THE   SABBATH.  203 

ish  Sabbath  ;  the  observance  of  which  we  find  re- 
tained by  many  in  early  times  together  with  the  Lord's 
Day,  then  discontinued,  then  revived,  and  revived 
amid  so  much  discrepancy  of  opinion,  that  the  day 
was  regarded  a  fast  in  the  Western  churches,  in  the 
East  as  a  festival.  Why  this  difference,  but  because 
the  universal  observation  of  the  Lord's  Day  was  based 
upon  apostolic  authority,  whilst  the  same  Apostles 
wheresoever  the  Jewish  Sabbath  did  not  appear  to 
undermine,  as  in  the  Galatian  Church,  the  foundation 
of  the  Gospel,  permitted  the  practice  gradually  to  dis- 
appear before  the  increasing  light  of  Christianity  ? 
Add,  then,  but  a  few  recognitions  in  the  Christian 
Scriptures  themselves  of  the  actual  observance  of  the 
Lord's  Day  even  in  the  age  of  the  Apostles,  and  with 
their  sanction,  nay,  apparently,  with  the  implied  sanc- 
of  our  Lord  Himself,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  we 
have  all  the  proof  which  we  really  require  of  its  di- 
vine authority.  .  .  . 

"With  respect  to  the  Mosaic  Sabbath,  the  fourth 
commandment  is  not,  I  apprehend,  the  true  founda- 
tion of  Christian  duty.  .  .  We  say  indeed,  and  we  say 
justly,  that  not  hallowing  the  seventh  da}^,  yet  hallow- 
ing one  day  in  seven,  we  fulfil  the  spirit  of  the  law.  .  .  . 
It  is  to  the  spirit  of  the  law  of  the  commandment  that 
we  appeal,  not  to  the  letter.  The  letter  we  believe  to 
have  been  abrogated,  but  the  spirit  survives.  The 
spirit  of  that  command  was  not  to  be  abrogated, 
which  was  distinguished  in  so  marked  a  manner  from 
the  positive  institutions  of  the  law  ;  pronounced  by  the 
awful  voice  of  God,  placed  alone  among  moral  precepts, 


204  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

the  authoritative  declarations  of  our  natural  duties, 
itself  unconnected  with  shadowy  and  typical  rites, 
which  were  partial  enactments  temporary  in  their  very 
nature,  whilst  this  rested  upon  the  ground  of  universal 
religion,  applicable  alike  to  all  the  sons  of  men.  The 
spirit  of  this  great  command  survives,  accordingly,  in 
another  ordinance,  equally  of  divine  appointment, 
but  more  spiritual  and  more  comprehensive  :  point- 
ing to  the  doctrines  of  redemption,  yet  still  embrac- 
ing everything  which  pervaded  the  Mosaic  precept, 
of  glory  to  the  Creator  and  benefit  to  His  creatures — 
even  the  lowest  of  His  creatures,  those  whom  we  too 
frequently  oppress,  but  who  are  never  forgotten  by 
Him." 

A  third  thexu:y,,jol  the  Sabbath  holds  that  the 
Lord's  Day  is  founded  distinctly  upon  the  primitive 
Sabbath  law,  established  in  Eden,  enforced  by  Moses, 
and  reaffirmed  by  Christ.  Without  assuming  a  prim- 
itive Sabbath  to  which  the  Lord's  Day  has  succeeded, 
casual  observance  or  even  unenforced  apostolic  ex- 
ample might  not  seem  sufficient  foundation  for  a  uni- 
versal ordinance.  But  as  a  law  of  Nature,  coexistent 
with  the  family,  incorporated  with  the  Decalogue, 
and  exalted  by  Christ  as  "  Lord  of  the  Sabbath-day," 
it  becomes  binding  on  the  Christian  Church  to  the 
end  of  time.  As  the  necessities  for  rest,  worship,  and 
high  culture  remain  the  same  under  the  Christian 
as  under  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  there  can  appear  no 
more  reason  for  repealing  the  law  than  for  abrogating 
any  other  law  of  the  Decalogue. 

Strong  defenders  of  the  strict  interpretation  of  the 


THEORIES    OF   THE   SABBATH.  205 

Sabbath  were   found    in    the    sixteenth    century,  es- 
pecially in  England,  Scotland,  and  in  Holland. 

The  first  work  which  attracted  special  attention 
was  that  of  Dr.  Bound,  published  in  England  toward 
the  close  of  that  century,  and  republished  in  Holland, 
followed  by  numerous  publications  and  sharp  con- 
troversy in  all  Protestant  countries.  The  divinity 
professors  and  clergy  of  Zealand,  to  harmonize  diverse 
views  of  Protestants  on  this  subject,  presented  the 
following  statement  to  the  synod,  which  was  approved 
and  widely  circulated  : 

1.  ''In  the  fourth  commandment  of  the  law  of  God 
there  is  something  ceremonial  and  something  moral. 

2.  "  The  resting  upon  the  seventh  day  after  the  crea- 
tion, and  the  strict  observation  of  it,  which  was  par- 
ticularly imposed  upon  the  Jewish  people,  was  the 
ceremonial  part  of  that  law. 

3.  "But  the  moral  part  is,  that  a  certain  day  be 
fixed  and  appropriated  to  the  service  of  God,  and  as 
much  rest  as  is  necessary  to  that  service  and  the  holy 
meditation  upon  Him. 

4.  "  The  Jewish  Sabbath  being  abolished,  Christians 
are  obliged  solemnly  to  keep  holy  the  Lord's  Day. 

5.  "This  day  has  ever  been  observed  by  the  ancient 
Catholic  Church,  from  the  time  of  the  Apostles. 

6.  "  This  day  ought  to  be  appropriated  to  religion 
in  such  a  manner  as  that  we  should  abstain  from  all 
servile  works  at  that  time,  excepting  those  of  charity 
and  necessity  ;  as  likewise  from  all  such  diversions  as 
are  contrary  to  religion." 

Later,  Dr.  Samuel  Lee,  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew 


206        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

at  Cambridge,  maintained  substantial!}^  the  following 
propositions  :  i.  That  the  patriarchs  had  a  Sabbath- 
day,  as  held  by  many  Biblical  scholars,  and  made  prob- 
able from  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation.  2.  The 
heathen  inherited  the  Sabbath  from  the  patriarchs,  as 
made  probable  from  the  origin  of  the  Sabbath  at  the 
birth  of  the  race,  but  perverted  afterward  into  sun- 
woiship  and  idolatry.  3.  That  the  patriarchs  and 
lieathen  together  represented  the  world.  4.  That  the 
Jewish  Sabbath,  that  falls  on  our  Saturday,  was  chosen 
peculiarly  for  a  temporary  covenant  and  a  temporary 
dispensation  ;  and  that  on  the  annulling  of  such  tem- 
porary covenant  and  dispensation  the  original  Sab- 
bath, i.e.  the  "dies  soils,"  was  restored  to  its  dignity. 
In  other  words,  that  the  Cliristian  festival  of  the  first 
day  of  the  week  is  the  primal  Sabbath  of  God  ;  and  that 
in  keeping  it  holy  Cliristians  are  unconsciously  fulfill- 
ing the  fourth  commandment.  As  the  ancient  Sabbath 
had  been  sacred  from  the  beginning,  and  had  lost  noth- 
ing of  its  primitive  sanction  b}'  having  been  accommo- 
dated to  the  times  of  the  Egress,  and  as  that  system 
had  come  to  an  end,  "that  day  would  now  necessarily 
recur,  by  virtue  of  the  precept  which  first  announced 
and  set  it  apart.  There  would  therefore  consequently 
be  no  necessity  for  any  new  commandment  in  the 
New  Testament  again  to  sanction  it  for  the  future 
observance  of  the  Church."  Dr.  Lee  cites  Capellus, 
Archbishop  Usher,  and  Gale  in  support  of  his  ingeni- 
ous theory.  Wliether  his  interpretation  be  approved 
oi-  not,  the  conclusion  reached  is  triumphantly  main- 
tulued    by    evangelical    Christendom.      Perhaps    no* 


TIJEORIES    OF    THE    SABBATH.  20/ 

writer  in  tliis  controvers}'  has  presented  in  briefer  or 
clearer  statement  the  prevailing  evangelical  view  of 
the  Christian  Sabbath  than  Dr.  Merie  in  the  Witness  : 
"The  Sabbath  is  the  wisest  and  most  beneficent,  as 
well  as  tlie  most  ancient,  institution  of  heaven  ;  the 
first  gift  which  God  conferred  on  our  newly  created 
parents,  and  by  which  He  continues  to  testify  at  once 
His  care  for  our  bodies  and  our  spirits,  by  providing 
relaxation  for  the  one  and  refreshment  for  the  other  ; 
the  joint  memorial  of  creation  and  redemption  ;  the 
token  of  God's  residence. on  earth,  and  the  earnest  of 
man's  salvation  to  heaven  ;  an  institution  which 
blends,  like  the  cc^lors  of  the  rainbow^ — itself  a  sacred 
emblem, — recollections  of  the  innocence  of  our  prim- 
eval state,  and  the  grace  of  our  recovery,  with  the  an- 
ticipation of  the  glory  to  which  we  are  called  ;  an  in- 
stitution in  the  observance  of  which  we  feel  ourselves 
associated  not  onl}^  with  all  who  in  every  region,  yea, 
on  every  sea,  believe  on  the  same  Saviour  ;  but  also 
witli  holy  men,  apostles,  prophets,  patriarchs,  in  every 
age  since  men  began  to  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord." 


V. 

The   Christian   Sabbath. 

"  O  day  most  calm,  most  bright, 

The  fruit  of  this,  the  next  world's  bud  ; 
The  endorsement  of  supreme  delight, 
Writ  by  a  Friend,  and  with  His  blood." 

The  observance  and  legal  defence  of  the  Sabbath 
are  greatly  obstructed  by  the  controversy  about  the 
proper  day  for  its  observance.  Seventh  -  day  Bap- 
tists unite  with  Jews  and  infidels  in  a  protest  against 
any  legal  defence  of  the  Christian  Sabbath. 

The  following  is  the  substance  of  the  argument  for 
the  exclusive  seventh-day  Sabbath  : 

1.  The  law  established  in  Eden,  enforced  by  Moses, 
and  reaffirmed  by  Christ  designated  the  seventh  day, 
and  only  the  seventh  day,  as  holy  time. 

2.  That  primitive  law  has  never  been  repealed  or 
modified  by  the  Supreme  Sovereignty  which  enacted 
it. 

3.  The  consecration  of  the  seventh  day  by  divine 
example  and  blessing  excludes  all  other  days  from  its 
sanctity  till  they  have  shared  the  same  consecration. 

4.  Replacing  in  the  religious  calendar  the  seventh 
day  by  any  other  day  for  sacred  memorial  and  wor- 
ship, would  be  like  changing  a  family  register,  and 
contrary  to  law,  transferring  from  one  son  to  another 


THE   CHRISTIAN   SABBATH.  209 

the  honor  of  succession,  or  the  inheritance  of  crown 
or  estate. 

5.  The  substitution  of  one  holy  day  for  another  in 
the  ritual  of  the  Church  would  be  like  the  Jews 
changing  the  day  of  the  Passover  or  American  citi- 
zens changing  the  day  for  commemoration  of  the 
birth  of  the  Republic,  or  for  decorating  the  graves  of 
the  soldiers  who  gave  their  lives  to  perpetuate  it. 

6.  Believers  in  the  Word  of  God  have  no  more 
right  to  abrogate  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  than 
Israel  had  to  abrogate  the  ritual  of  Moses,  or  the 
Christian  Church  the  ordinances  of  Christ. 

7.  In  exalting  the  claims  of  the  first  day  against 
the  claims  of  the  divinely  appointed  Sabbath,  Chris- 
tendom has  revolted  against  Supreme  Authority,  be- 
come herself  Antichrist,  and  delayed  the  triumph  of 
Messiah's  Kingdom  by  "teaching  for  doctrine  the 
commandments  of  men." 

8.  As  Israel  made  void  God's  laws  through  their 
traditions,  and  Papacy  has  filled  the  world  with  sects 
by  substituting  the  commandments  of  men  for  the 
ordinances  of  God  ;  so  those  substituting  supposed 
customs  of  the  early  Church  for  primitive  unrepealed 
and  irrepealable  Sabbath  law  have  divided  Christ- 
endom, prevented  the  union  of  the  world  in  the  ob- 
servance of  one  and  the  same  Sabbath,  and  post- 
poned indefinitely  the  triumph  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  over  the  earth. 

This  argument  for  the  seventh  day  seems  at  first 
view  conclusive.     But  are  there  not  fallacies  lurking 
under  all  its  propositions  fatal  to  its  conclusiveness  ? 
14 


2IO  defe;nce  of  the  sabbath. 

In  regard  to  the  first  thesis  :  if  the  seventh  part  of 
time  reckoned  from  the  beginning  was  also  the  sev- 
enth day  from  creation,  does  it  certainly  follow  that 
the  validity  of  the  law  was  in  the  succession,  and  not 
essentially  in  the  proportion  of  time — one  day  in 
seven  ? 

In  regard  to  the  second  thesis  :  can  it  be  made  cer- 
tain that  Christ,  "  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,"  has  not 
repealed  the  Mosaic  ritual,  and  restored  the  original 
Sabbath  with  change  of  time,  memorial,  and  sanc- 
tion ? 

In  regard  to  the  third  thesis  :  has  not  the  first  day 
received  a  greater  consecration  through  association 
with  redemption  than  the  seventh  day  through  asso- 
ciation with  creation  ? 

In  regard  to  the  fourth  thesis  :  as  Jacob  replaced 
Esau  by  the  covenant  of  grace,  as  a  memorial  of  the 
same  covenant  may  not  the  first  day  have  succeeded 
to  the  provisions  and  promises  of  the  seventh  day  ? 

In  regard  to  the  fifth  thesis  :  as  Christ  did  abrogate 
the  Jewish  ritual,  why  should  it  seem  strange  that  He 
should  also  have  modified  the  time  of  the  Sabbath  ? 

In  regard  to  the  sixth  thesis  .  it  is  not  claimed  that 
modern  sects  have  a  right  to  change  Sabbath  observ- 
ance, but  that  Christ,  "  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath," 
and  His  inspired  apostles  had. 

In  regard  to  the  seventh  thesis  :  if  Christ  Himself 
exalted  the  first  above  the  seventh  day,  and  His  in- 
spired Apostles  did  the  same,  it  cannot  be  Antichrist 
for  the  Church  to  continue  to  make  the  first  day  her 
holy  day. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   SABBATH.  211 

In  regard  to  the  eighth  thesis  :  those  denying 
Christ's  Lordship  and  ordinances,  and  not  those  who 
honor  them,  are  responsible  for  divisions  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  and  the  slow  progress  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  on  earth.  Having  merely  glanced  at  what 
seem  to  us  the  fallacies  of  the  argument  for  the 
seventh  day,  we  proceed  to  set  forth  what  seems  to 
us  the  more  conclusive  argument  for  the  observance 
of  the  first  day  as  the  Christian  Sabbath. 

1.  The  existence  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  affords 
strong  presumption  in  favor  of  perpetuating  it. 
More  conclusive  reasons  should  be  demanded  for  ab- 
rogating an  ordinance  than  for  forbidding  its  institu- 
tion. This  day  is  now  established  in  the  reverence 
and  observance  of  the  greatest  and  most  progressive 
nations  of  the  world.  Annulling  it  would  amount  to 
a  religious,  social,  and  political  revolution.  Attempt- 
ing so  great  change,  without  certain  divine  authority 
or  the  greatest  practical  expediency,  would  seem  like 
reaching  forth  a  profane  hand  to  steady  the  Ark  of 
God. 

2.  Those  seeking  to  replace  the  observance  of  the 
first  by  that  of  the  seventh  day  seem  to  overlook  the 
fact  that  as  a  moral  law  the  original  Sabbath  might 
vary  its  form  while  retaining  its  substance  ;  might 
assume,  under  a  new  dispensation,  a  new  ritual  relat- 
ing to  time,  manner  of  observance,  and  penalty,  with- 
out impairing  its  identity  or  its  divine  sanction. 
There  could  be  no  anterior  improbability  of  such  a 
change,  nor  would  very  direct  or  explicit  evidences 
seem  necessary  to  justify  it.      Moral  laws  seem   to 


212        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

formulate  themselves  as  rivers  open  their  own  chan- 
nels to  the  sea.  The  universal  Sabbath  for  rest  and 
worship  might  almost  find  out  its  fittest  day  and  its 
fittest  ritual  through  conspicuous  Providence  or  emi- 
nent example. 

3.  Memorial  uses  of  the  original  Sabbath  need  not 
be  lost  by  changing  the  day  of  its  observance.  The 
validity  of  Jevvisli  festivals  did  not  depend  upon  veri- 
fying the  dates  of  their  observance.  Feast-days  of 
Papacy  do  not  challenge  the  reverence  and  observ- 
ance of  her  votaries  by  proving  the  correctness  of  her 
calendar.  The  birth  of  the  American  Republic  has 
sometimes  been  celebrated  on  the  third  and  some- 
times on  the  fifth  of  July,  without  detriment  to  the 
honor  of  the  state  or  the  patriotism  of  her  citizens. 
So  whether  the  seventh  day  from  creation  or  the 
seventh  day  in  any  conventional  chronology  were  ob- 
served, the  commemoration  of  the  stupendous  order 
of  the  universe  and  the  exodus  of  Israel  from  Egypt 
might  with  equal  propriety  and  impressiveness  be  as- 
sociated with  its  worship.  As  the  chronology  from 
the  resurrection  of  Christ  is  made  more  certain  by 
history  and  tradition  than  that  from  the  creation, 
there  might  seem  reason  for  preferring  the  first  day 
for  memorial  celebration,  especially  as  creation  as 
well  as  redemption  was  accomplished  on  that  day. 
"  In  the  beginning" — the  first  day — ''  God  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth."  Surely  it  would  seem  as 
appropriate  to  merge  the  celebration  of  creation  in 
the  commemoration  of  Redemption,  as  the  celebration 
of   Redemption   in  the  commemoration   of    creation. 


THE   CHRISIIAN    SABBATH.  213 

The  Lord's  D^iy  should  seem  to  the  world  a  more  im- 
pressive memorial  than  the  Jewish  Sabbath. 

4.  The  autliority  for  the  observance  of  the  first  da)^ 
is  the  same  as  that  which  gave  sanction  to  the 
seventh  day.  The  authority  for  each  was  divine  ex- 
ample. Jehovah  having  finished  His  work  in  six 
periods,  rested  on  the  seventh  ;  and  thus  pledged  the 
grateful  rest  and  worship  of  man  on  the  seventh  day 
of  his  week  of  toil.  So  Christ  having  finished  His 
vicarious  sufferings  on  the  cross  on  the  sixth  day, 
and  His  humiliation  in  the  tomb  on  the  seventh,  rose 
from  the  dead  on  the  first  day,  leading  captivity  cap- 
tive, and  opened  up  a  new  promise  of  resurrection 
from  the  dead  and  everlasting  life  through  Him,  and 
consecrated  the  first  day — the  day  of  His  triumphant 
rest — for  the  sacred  observance  of  His  followers  to 
the  end  of  time.  As  the  Gospel  is  based  on  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ  ratified  in  His  triumphant  resurrec- 
tion, the  Lord's  Day  becomes  binding  wherever  the 
Gospel  is  accepted.  Its  observance  acknowledges 
Christ's  Lordship,  and  the  only  way  of  salvation 
through  Him.  The  Lord's  Day  has  consequently 
followed  the  acceptance  of  the  Gospel  as  baptism. 
Refusing  that  observance  denied  that  Christ  had 
come  in  the  flesh,  and  had  done  away  with  Judaism, 
and  introduced  a  better  covenant  and  better  promises, 
and  a  new  ritual  of  worsliip.  In  a  more  comprehen- 
sive and  practical  way  than  baptism  and  the  supper, 
the  Lord's  Day  has  become  the  memorial  of  the 
resurrection,  and  redemption  of  the  world  through 
Christ. 


214        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

5.  The  first  day  makes  the  same  provision  for 
bodily  rest  and  recuperation  as  the  seventh.  With 
the  same  regularity  it  lifts  the  galling  yoke  of  labor 
from  the  tired  and  chafed  neck  of  man,  and  recalls 
him  from  the  taxing  toils  or  cares  of  field,  shop, 
counting-house,  or  office,  to  rest  in  the  bosom  of 
home  or  in  the  hallowed  precincts  of  the  house  of 
God.  In  this  weekly  repose  the  jaded  body  rises 
from  prostrating  fatigues,  resists  incipient  disorders, 
and  regains  its  accustomed  vigor  for  the  duties  of 
life.  No  change  of  the  Sabbath  that  would  reduce 
its  beneficent  ministry  could  have  been  sought  by 
man  or  enjoined  by  God. 

6.  The  first  day  makes  also  the  same  stated  provi- 
sion for  mental  refreshment  and  culture  as  the 
seventh.  It  is  a  school  period,  as  long  as  carefully 
guarded,  and  furnished  with  ^s  good  appointments 
and  teachers  as  the  seventh  day.  If  the  new  Sabbath 
provided  less  hours,  less  helps,  or  less  sanctions  in 
its  scheme  for  the  general  and  higher  education  of 
men  than  the  old  Sabbath  secures,  a  change  of  days 
might  reasonably  be  objected  to.  Dare  we  imperil 
this  comprehensive  and  beneficent  educational  foun- 
dation by  a  technical  dispute  about  a  succession  of 
days  or  the  reckoning  of  holy  time  ? 

7.  The  first  day  provides  more  impressive  appeals 
and  sanctions  for  religious  worship  than  the  seventh 
day.  Summoning  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth 
simultaneously  to  bend  the  knee  before  the  Supreme 
Majesty,  and  simultaneously  blend  their  voices  in 
prayer  and   praise   to   the  great  Creator,  is  an  order 


THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  21$ 

ineffably  sublime.  When  Jehovah  brought  His  only 
begotten  Son  into  the  world  He  said,  "Let  all  the 
angels  of  God  worship  Him."  If  the  august  spectacle 
of  earth  and  heaven  uniting  in  the  worship  of  Jeho- 
vah were  better  provided  for  on  the  seventh  than  on 
the  first  day,  a  change  of  Sabbatic  time  might  seem 
sacrilegious,  abhorrent  to  men  and  to  God.  But  as 
the  pre-eminence  of  Christ's  name  is  proclaimed,  the 
brotherhood  of  the  race  is  to  be  restored  in  Him, 
and  the  homage  of  heaven  as  well  as  of  earth  is  chal- 
lenged by  Him,  there  seems  a  special  fitness  in  calling 
religious  assemblies  on  the  day  which  celebrates  His 
resurrection,  and  the  promised  triumph  of  His  king- 
dom. 

8.  The  first  day  is  specially  suitable  for  celebration 
of  the  believer's  rest  of  faith  in  this  world,  and  a  sym- 
bol of  His  everlasting  rest  in  heaven.  "There  re- 
maineth  therefore  a  rest  for  the  people  of  God" 
seems  to  mean  not  only  that  the  Christian  believer 
has  a  rest  of  faith,  as  the  pious  Jew  had,  and  like  him 
an  external  Sabbath,  a  symbol  of  the  nature  and 
grounds  of  that  faith  ;  but  also  the  promise  of  an 
everlasting  rest  assured  by  better  promises  through 
Christ. 

9.  The  celebration  of  the  first  4ay  as  a  memorial  of 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost seems  sacredly  binding.  On  that  day  a  new 
and  more  spiritual  evangelism  for  the  world  was  in- 
augurated. The  spirituality  and  freedom  of  the 
Christian  Church  were  promised.  The  efficient  agen- 
cy in  the  regeneration  of  man  was  proclaimed.     If  a 


2l6       DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

day  fraught  with  such  spiritual  gifts  and  promises  is 
not  observed,  let  all  memorials  cease.  So  long  as  the 
dispensation  of  the  Spirit  continues  to  assure  the 
perseverance  of  saints,  the  ministration  of  spiritual 
gifts,  and  the  success  of  Christian  evangelisms  and 
missions,  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost  should  be  celebrated. 

lo.  The  first  day  should  be  celebrated  as  the  birth- 
day of  the  believer's  Christian  faith,  experience,  and 
hopes.  As  the  pious  Hebrew  celebrated  on  the 
seventh  day  his  rest  from  a  week  of  toil,  and  also  his 
release  from  the  hard  bondage  in  Egypt,  and  his  tri- 
umphant entrance  into  the  Promised  Land  ;  so  on 
the  first  day  the  Christian  believer  celebrates  rest 
with  God  through  faith  in  a  Divine  Mediator,  deliv- 
erance from  bondage  to  sin,  the  burdens  of  ceremo- 
nial law  and  the  menace  of  the  moral  law,  through 
the  atonement  and  redemption  of  Christ,  the  Saviour 
of  the  world.  The  first  day  should  be  kept  as  a  sym- 
bol of  the  grounds  of  present  peace,  and  as  prophetic 
of  the  heavenly  rest  after  final  triumph  over  sin  and 
the  grave. 

II.  Though  with  such  various  and  conclusive  rea- 
sons for  hallowing  the  first  day  as  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, we  need  hardly  expect  or  look  for  specific  order 
for  the  change  of  days,  the  example  of  Christ  and 
His  inspired  Apostles  should  satisfy  all  demanding 
specific  divine  order  for  the  change  of  Sabbatic  time. 
It  is  directly  declared  that  after  His  resurrection 
Christ  "  talked  with  His  Apostles  about  things  con- 
cerning His  kingdom."     It  is  not  improbable  that  the 


THE   CHRISTIAN   SABBATH.  2l^ 

designation  of  the  new  Sabbath  was  then  made.  At 
all  events,  after  His  resurrection  we  do  not  read  that 
He  met  with  His  disciples  on  any  other  day.  But  as 
if  summoning  His  followers  ever  after  to  meet  Him  for 
the  service,  and  fellowship  of  His  name  and  kingdom 
to  the  end  of  time,  He  met  His  disciples  repeatedly 
after  His  resurrection  on  the  first  day  of  the  week — 
first  Mar}',  then  the  other  women  ;  then  Peter,  and 
afterward  other  Apostles  ;  the  two  on  the  way  to  Em- 
maus,  and  then  all  the  Apostles  ;  then  the  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  on  the  day  of  Pentecost — the  most 
memorable  first-day  meeting  of  the  primitive  Church. 
Inspired  Apostles,  following  the  sacred  example  and 
promise  of  the  Master,  called  Christian  assemblies  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  on  the  first  and  not  on 
the  seventh  day.  Paul  passing  by  the  opportunity  of 
the  seventh  day,  took  pains  to  meet  and  break  bread 
with  the  church  of  Troas  on  the  first  day — the  day 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord.  Regulations  about 
charitable  collections  as  a  part  of  Christian  worship, 
and  warning  against  neglect  of  the  stated  worship  of 
the  churches,  were  based  on  the  observance  of  the 
Lord's  Day.  As  these  disciples  could  not  have  ac- 
knowledged the  obligations  of  two  Sabbaths,  it  is 
•  manifest  they  believed  that  in  observing  the  first  day 
they  honored  the  primitive  Sabbath  law.  Only 
through  this  conviction  can  we  account  for  the  gene- 
ral replacing  of  the  old  by  the  new  Sabbath  in  the 
early  Church.  If  the  seventh  day  were  still  binding, 
it  would  have  been  retained  as  the  basis  of  their 
worship,   discipline,  and  evangelism.     It  could  have 


2l8  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

been  only  because  the  early  churches  had  come  gene- 
rally to  keep  the  first  day,  and  deem  it  more  sacred 
than  the  seventh,  and  practically  taking  its  place,  that 
Constantine,  Leo,  and  other  emperors  made  laws  to 
protect  the  first  and  not  the  seventh  day.  If  the 
large  and  growing  class  of  Christian  citizens  had  held 
the  seventh  as  the  holy  day  instead  of  the  first,  it 
seems  certain  that  day  would  have  been  guarded  by 
law  rather  than  the  first  day.  This  preference  and 
superior  sanctity  of  the  first  day  become  clearer  and 
clearer  from  the  beginning  of  Christian  history.  It 
is  needless  to  cite  fathers  through  the  earlier  centu- 
ries to  prove  this  distinction  of  the  first  day.  Justin 
of  the  second  century  may  represent  the  strength  of 
the  testimony  of  the  fathers  as  to  Sabbatic  time  and 
observance  :  "But  Sunday  is  the  day  on  which  we  all 
hold  our  common  assemblies,  because  it  is  the  first 
day  on  which  God,  having  wrought  a  change  in  the 
darkness  and  matter,  made  the  world,  and  Jesus 
Christ  our  Saviour  on  the  same  day  rose  from  the 
dead.  For  Jesus  was  crucified  on  that  day  before 
that  of  Saturn  ;  and  on  the  day  after  that  of  Saturn, 
which  is  the  day  of  the  Sun,  having  appeared  to  His 
Apostles  and  disciples.  He  taught  them  these  things 
which  we  have  submitted  to  you  also,  for  your  con- 
sideration." 

12.  TJie  Lord's  Day  crowned  as  the  Sabbath  of  the 
World. — Older  faiths  of  the  world  are  falling  into  de- 
cay. The  paganism  of  India  is  following  that  of 
Greece  and  of  Rome  into  the  shadows  of  oblivion. 
Buddhism,  losing    its  aggressive    character,  is  losing 


THE   CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  219 

the  confidence  of  its  votaries  ;  and  the  Bramo  Somaj 
is  discrediting  its  temples,  ritual,  and  priesthood. 
Mohammedanism,  limited  in  its  career  of  conquest  by 
the  rise  of  stronger  powers,  is  losing  her  religious 
with  her  military  prestige.  The  Koran  and  mosque 
have  a  less  imperious  control  over  her  votaries  ;  and 
with  quickened  thought,  instinct  of  liberty,  and  freer 
intercourse  with  western  nations  a  disruption  of  her 
empire  and  the  dispersion  of  her  followers  may  oc- 
cur. As  the  Hebrews  are  rising  to  citizenship, 
wealth,  culture,  and  social  standing  in  many  lands, 
their  exclusive  faith  and  ritual  are  more  frequently 
challenged  by  their  children,  who  become  impatient 
of  isolation  and  estrangement  from  the  religious  ob- 
servance of  the  communities  where  they  dwell. 
Their  sacrifices  have  long  since  ceased.  Their  feast- 
days  are  less  scrupulously  observed.  Their  Sabbath 
is  no  longer  reverenced  as  it  was  by  their  fathers, 
and  little  by  little  it  is  being  added  to  the  domain  of 
secular  industries. 

Apart  from  Christianity,  there  is  no  other  religious 
name  or  system  likely  to  become  universal,  or  even 
permanent.  Castes  and  shasters  are  passing  away. 
Temples  and  altars  are  being  abandoned  to  the  moles 
and  the  bats.  Priests  are  losing  the  veneration  of 
the  people,  and  seeking  secular  employments.  If  in- 
quiry, education,  and  civilization  continue  to  spread, 
in  a  hundred  years  scarcely  a  vestige  of  the  domi- 
nant faiths  of  the  world  may  remain.  They  are  fall- 
ing before  the  name  and  symbols  of  Christianity  as 
Dagon  fell  before  the  Ark  of  God.     But  while  other 


220        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

religions  are  becoming  effete  and  falling  into  decay, 
Christianity  is  advancing  in  every  part  of  the  v^'orld. 
She  is  the  faith  of  all  the  mightiest  nations.  She 
leads  the  van  of  human  progress.  Of  all  the  religi- 
ous faiths,  she  alone  through  Messianic  prophecy  puts 
forth  claims  to  universal  and  permanent  dominion. 
It  w^as  said  of  his  great  antitype,  as  of  Abraham,  *'  In 
thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed  " 
(Gen.  xxii.  i8).  Of  this  same  cliosen  seed  it  is  said, 
"  His  name  shall  endure  forever  :  His  name  shall  be 
continued  as  long  as  the  sun:  and  men  shall  be  blessed 
in  Him  :  all  nations  shall  call  Him  blessed  ;  ...  let 
the  whole  earth  be  filled  with  His  glory"  (Ps.  Ixxii. 
17,  19).  ''Lift  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations"  (Isa.  v. 
26).  "And  He  shall  set  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations" 
(Isa.  xi.  12).  "All  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  see  the 
salvation  of  our  God  "  (Isa.  Hi.  10).  "  God  be  merci- 
ful unto  us,  and  bless  us  ;  and  cause  His  face  to  shine 
upon  us.  That  Thy  way  may  be  known  upon  earth, 
Thy  saving  health  among  all  nations.  Let  the  peo- 
ple praise  Thee,  O  God  ;  let  all  the  people  praise 
thee.  Let  the  nations  be  glad  and  sing  for  joy  :  for 
Thou  shalt  judge  the  people  righteousl}^  and  govern 
the  nations  upon  earth.  .  .  .  God  shall  bless  us  ;  and 
all  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  fear  Him"  (Ps.  Ixvii.). 
These  and  similar  scriptures  forecast  the  disappear- 
ance of  Judaism  and  all  rival  faiths,  and  the  trium- 
phant establishment  of  Christ's  kingdom  over  all 
nations.  Providence  and  history  are  confirming 
prophecy,  and  Christ's  name  is  fast  rising  in  the  faith 
and   reverence  of  mankind  "above  every  name   that 


THE   CHRISTIAN   SABBATH.  221 

is  named  on  earth  or  in  heaven."  "His  kingdom  is 
an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  to  His  dominion  there 
shall  be  no  end."  But  in  becoming  the  universal 
faith  she  will  maintain  her  own  ritual  observance — 
her  own  Sabbath.  As  Christ's  kingdom  becomes  es- 
tablished, the  memorial  of  its  birth  at  the  morn  of 
His  resurrection  will  everywhere  be  observed.  As 
the  Passover,  celebrating  the  exodus  of  the  Jews  from 
bondage,  followed  their  dispersion  over  the  world 
and  through  the  centuries,  and  as  the  festival  com- 
memorating the  birth  of  the  Republic  is  honored  on 
her  remotest  frontier,  and  by  tlie  most  obscure  com- 
munity confessing  allegiance  to  her  banner  ;  so  the 
day  commemorating  the  resurrection  of  Christ  and 
the  birth  of  His  kingdom  will  follow  its  conquest  to 
every  land,  every  tribe,  and  every  people  under  the 
sun,  and  become  the  Sabbath  of  the  world.  No  festal 
day  of  Paganism,  or  Buddhism,  or  Moliammedanism, 
or  of  Judaism  can  be  conceived  of  as  gaining  this  dis- 
tinction. But  the  day  of  the  Lord  clearly  may  gain 
this  renown,  and  stand  alone  on  the  religious  calen- 
dar as  the  day  for  rest  and  worship  for  universal 
humanity.  How  inspiring  to  see  citizens  of  the  Re- 
public coming  up  from  rural  district,  village,  town, 
and  city,  marching  under  the  same  banner,  and  keep- 
ing time  to  the  same  music,  celebrating  the  same  an- 
cestral virtues  and  traditions,  and  pledging  patriotic 
loyalty  to  the  same  constitution  and  laws  !  But  far 
more  impressive  will  it  be  to  see  all  the  tribes  and 
kindreds  of  the  earth,  abandoning  all  other  names 
and  symbols  of  religion,  and  acknowledging  one  God 


222        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

and  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  on  the  day 
of  Christ's  resurrection  and  the  inauguration  of  His 
kingdom  on  earth  resting  from  secular  labors  and 
pleasures,  and  in  their  chosen  houses  of  prayer 
praising  tlieir  Creator  and  their  Redeemer,  and. 
rising  in  ennobling  aspiration  to  an  immortality  of 
being  and  blessing,  and  singing  as  they  pray, 

"Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 

Does  his  successive  journeys  run  ; 
His  kingdom  stretch  from  shore  to  shore, 
Till  moons  shall  wax  and  wane  no  more." 

Then,  realizing  the  double  promise,  "  There  remains 
therefore  a  rest  for  the  people  of  God  "  while  looking 
to  the  heavenly  rest,  they  shall  also  exclaim  of  the 
Christian's  Sabbath  as  distinguished  from  that  of  the 
Jews,  ''This  is  the  day  the  Lord  hath  made  :  we  will 
rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it." 


VI. 

Testimony. 

Profound  interpreters  of  history,  apart  from  di- 
vine revelation,  have  found  in  the  Sabbath  a  law  of 
Nature — an  ordinance  of  God. 

Plato  says,  "  Out  of  pity  for  the  wretched  life  of 
mortals,  the  Deity  arranged  days  of  festal  refresh- 
ment." 

Laplace,  in  his  "  Exposition  of  the  System  of  Na- 
ture," says,  ''  The  week  from  the  highest  antiquity  cir- 
culates across  the  centuries  ;  and  it  is  very  remarkable 
that  it  is  likewise  found  everywhere  in  the  world." 

Hegel  declares,  "  Antiquity  has  bequeathed  the  Sab- 
bath to  modern  nations  ;  and  the  fact  that  this  insti- 
tution has  subsisted  in  despite  of  the  changes  which 
have  taken  place  in  the  domain  of  politics  and  re- 
ligion, testifies  to  its  intrinsic  value  and  its  absolute 
necessity." 

.  Professor  Ernst  Curtius,  the  eminent  German  Hel- 
lenist, says,  "  The  attention  to  working  and  resting 
days  appeared  even  to  the  ancients  as  something  so 
primitive  in  its  origin,  so  indispensable,  and  so 
closely  connected  with  religion,  that  they  found  in  it 
not  a  mere  value  of  human  cleverness,  but  a  divine 
ordinance." 


224        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

The  Jews  from  the  time  of  Moses  have  given  uni- 
form and  emphatic  testimony  to  the  duty  of  con- 
secrating a  seventh  part  of  time  to  rest  and  worship. 
By  the  scrupulous  observance  'of  this  divine  ordi- 
nance they  have  preserved  their  identity  through  the 
ages,  continued  their  protest  against  id'olatry,  and  en- 
forced tlieir  testimony  to  the  existence  of  one  living 
and  true  God. 

Mohammedans,  though  changing  the  day  to  sepa- 
rate themselves  from  Jewish'and  Christian  ritual,  give 
equally  emphatic  testimony  to  the  perpetuity  and 
sacredness  of  the  Sabbath  law. 

Roman  Catholics  join  Protestants  in  maintaining 
the  universality  and  divine  authority  of  the  Sabbath. 

Pius  IX.  says  in  a  pontifical  message  to  France  in 
i873j  ''Go  and  tell  France,  which  is  so  dear  to  me, 
that  if  she  would  be  saved,  she  must  return  to  the 
sanctification  of  the  Lord's  Day." 

The  present  Pope,  in  an  address  to  all  Roman 
Catholic  people,  declares  :  "  The  observance  of  the 
sacred  day,  which  was  willed  expressly  by  God  from 
the  first  origin  of  man,  is  imperatively  demanded  by 
the  absolute  and  essential  dependence  of  the  creature 
upon  the  Creator.  And  the  law^ — mark  it  well,  my  be- 
loved— which  at  one  and  the  same  time  so  admirably 
provides  for  tlie  honor  of  God,  the  spiritual  needs  and 
dignity  of  man,  and  the  temporal  well-being  of  hu- 
man life — this  law,  we  say,  touches  not  only  individ- 
uals, but  also  peoples  and  nations,  which  owe  to  Di- 
vine Providence  the  enjoyment  of  every  advantage 
which  is  derived  from  civil  society.    And  it  is  precisely 


TESTIMONY.  225 

to  this  fatal  tendency,  which  to-day  prevails,  to  desire 
to  lead  mankind  far  away  from  God,  and  to  order  the 
affairs  of  kingdoms  and  nations  as  if  God  did  not  ex- 
ist, that  to-day  is  attributed  this  contempt  and  ne- 
glect of  the  day  of  the  Lord." 

The  Bishop  of  Buffalo,  in  calling  renewed  atten- 
tion to  the  Sabbath,  after  forbidding  picnics,  excur- 
sions, and  fairs  on  Sunday  and  holy  days,  said  :  '' '  Re- 
member thou  keep  holy  the  Sabbath-day,'  is  God's 
command.  .  .  ,  We  must  not  only  rest  from  ail  un- 
necessary and  servile  work,  but  we  must  hear  mass, 
and  spend  tlie  day — or  at  least  a  good  part  of  it — in 
the  service  of  God  and  religious  duties.  .  .  .  Ours  is 
not,  as  we  have  said,  a  Jewish  or  a  Puritanical  Sab- 
bath, nor  do  we  measure  its  obligatory  observance  by 
a  sectarian  standard,  or  any  American  or  national 
ideal  ;  yet  we  would  be  sorry  to  see  the  respect  in 
which  our  separated  brethren  hold  the  Lord's  Day 
weakened  or  discredited.  God  grant  that  we  may 
never  see  Sunday  profaned  here  in  our  country  as  we 
have  seen  it  in  other  lands." 

The  Metropolitan  Catholic  Union,  at  a  State  Con- 
vention in  Troy  in  1882,  resolved,  "That  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  drinks  upon  the  Lord's  Day  is  not  only 
a  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  state  and  the  precepts  of 
the  Church,  but  also  a  fruitful  source  of  intemperance, 
and  we  are  bound  in  the  very  nature  of  this  Union 
to  oppose  it,  and  seek  by  every  means  to  uproot  it." 

Cardinal  McCloskey,  and  the  bishops  associated 
with  him  in  Provincial  Synod  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  issued  a  pastoral  letter,  in  which  it  is  said, 
15 


226  DEFENXE    OF   THE    SABBATH. 

"We  wholly  denounce  and  positively  forbid  picnics 
on  Sundays,  or  moonlight  excursions  ;  and  we  exhort 
our  good  people,  who  love  their  Church  and  have 
the  interests  of  religion  and  morality  at  heart,  to  ab- 
stain from  any  participation  in  such  scandalous,  un- 
hallowed, and  disgraceful  practices,  and  to  use  all 
their  influence  to  suppress  them.  The  Loid's  Day, 
the  blessed  day  of  rest,  must  not  be  desecicited  by 
such  shameful  scenes."  Father  Ravignan,  an  eminent 
Catholic  divine,  says,  "  I  do  not  see  that  practical 
Atheism  can  be  more  thoroughly  expressed  than  by 
the  habitual  public  and  universal  violation  of  the 
Lord's  Day.  No  more  worship,  no  more  religion, 
practically  no  more  God." 

Statesmen  a?id  Civilians. 

During  the  discussion  of  the  question  of  opening 
museums  and  art-  galleries  on  Sundays  Gladstone 
thus  announced  himself:  "If  the  state  once  entered 
upon  a  course  of  the  kind,  the  only  point  at  which  it 
would  stop  short  was  the  point  which  had  been 
reached  in  foreign  capitals,  where  there  was  abso- 
lutely no  protection  to  the  workingman  in  the  ob- 
servance of  the  Sabbath.  I  resist  the  motion,  too, 
on  higher  grounds.  Nothing  could  be  more  injuri- 
ous to  the  intellectual,  the  moral,  and  the  physical 
welfare  of  the  country,  than  that  anything  should  be 
done  by  the  State  which  would  lend  countenance  to 
the  idea  that  they  were  anxious  to  get  rid  of  the  ob- 
servance of  the  Sabbath  as  now  enjoyed;  and  speak- 
ing on  behalf  of  the  Government,  I  cannot  therefore 


TESTIMONY.  227 

hold  out  any  hope  that   the  decisions   of  successive 
ministers  on  the  subject  will  be  reversed." 

John  Bright  said  before  the  House  of  Commons, 
^' The  stability  and  character  of  our  country  and  the 
advancement  of  our  race  depend,  I  believe,  very 
largely  upon  the  mode  in  which  the  Day  of  Rest, 
which  seems  to  have  been  specially  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  mankind,  shall  be  used  and  observed." 

S.  D.  Waddy,  member  of  Parliament,  expressed 
this  sentiment  :  "Let  Sunday  once  come  to  be  used 
by  the  nation  generally  for  amusements,  and  the  collar 
of  work  will  be  fastened  as  tightly  around  the  necks 
of  the  working-men  on  Sunday  as  on  any  other  day." 

T.  F.  Bayard,  U.  S.  Senator,  says  :  "  I  most  sin- 
cerely approve  of  the  civil  institution  of  the  Sabbath, 
as  a  'dies  non  juridicus,'  in  which  the  usual  labors 
and  occupations  of  society  are  to  be  suspended.  I  do 
not  discuss  it  as  a  day  of  religious  observance,  which 
naturally  and  properly  it  becomes,  but  as  a  civil 
period  of  intermission,  a  pause  in  ordinary  pursuits, 
and  an  opportunity  for  rest  and  restoration.  I  heartily 
desire  to  see  its  observance  under  statute  law,  and 
the  stronger  law  of  habitual  and  universal  custom  and 
popular  acquiescence." 

'J.  Randolph  Tucker,  M.C.,  gives  similar  testimony  : 
"I  wish  to  testify  my  belief  that  the  institutional 
custom  of  our  fathers  in  remembering  the  Sabbath 
to  keep  it  holy,  as  the  conservator  of  our  Christian 
religion,  is  the  foundation-stone  of  our  political  sys- 
tem, and  the  only  hope  of  American  freedom,  prog- 
ress, and  glory." 


228  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

General  Garfield  left  an  impressive  testimony  to 
the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath  at  the  Chicago  Convention, 
at  which  he  was  subsequently  nominated  for  the  Presi- 
dency. On  Saturday  night  many  wanted  to  go  on 
with  the  balloting  after  midnight,  and  many  pressed 
Judge  Hoar,  the  chairman,  to  ignore  the  Sabbath  and 
let  the  convention  proceed.  Sustained  by  his  own 
convictions  and  such  men  as  Garfield,  Judge  Hoar 
replied,  "Never.  This  is  a  Sabbath-keeping  nation, 
and  I  cannot  preside  over  this  convention  one  minute 
after  twelve  o'clock."  On  that  Sunday  Garfield  at- 
tended church,  and  heard  a  sermon.  At  dinner  the 
conversation  turned  upon  the  suspense  of  the  coun- 
try. One  spoke  of  the  dead-lock  in  business  created 
by  it ;  another  of  the  suspense  at  Washington,  where 
all  were  waiting  for  further  developments  of  the  con- 
vention. All  except  Garfield  had  said  something ; 
and  when  all  were  done,  he  remarked,  quietly  but 
with  earnestness,  to  one  sitting  beside  him,  "Yes, 
this  is  a  day  of  suspense,  but  it  is  also  a  day  of 
prayer  ;  and  I  have  more  faith  in  the  prayers  that 
will  go  up  from  Christian  hearts  to-day  than  I  have 
in  all  the  political  tactics  which  will  prevail  at  this 
convention."  During  his  sickness  he  remembered 
the  Lord's  Day  when  it  came.  On  one  Sunday 
morning,  as  he  opened  his  eyes  to  its  holy  light,  he 
said,  "This  is  the  Lord's  Day.  I  have  great  rever- 
ence for  it." 

Justice  Strong,  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  says  :  "There  is  abundant  justification  for  our 
I'vinday  laws,  regarding  them  as  a  mere  civil  institu- 


TESTIMONY.  229 

tion,  which  they  are  ;  and  he  is  no  friend  to  the  good 
order  and  welfare  of  society  who  would  break  them 
down,  or  who  himself  sets  an  example  of  disobedience 
to  them.  They  appeal  to  each  citizen  as  a  patriot,  as 
an  orderly  member  of  the  community,  and  as  a  well- 
wisher  to  his  fellow-men,  to  uphold  them  with  all  his 
influence,  and  to  show  respect  for  them  by  his  con- 
duct and  example." 

Washington's  order  to  the  army  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution  expresses  his  sentiments  and  those 
of  the  founders  of  the  Republic  in  respect  to  the  Sab- 
bath :  "  That  the  troops  may  have  an  opportunity  of 
attending  public  worship,  as  well  as  to  take  some 
rest  after  the  great  fatigue  they  have  gone  through, 
the  general,  in  future,  excuses  them  from  fatigue 
duty  on  Sundays,  except  at  the  sliipyards  or  on  special 
occasions,  until  further  orders.  We  can  have  little 
hope  of  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  our  arms  if  we 
insult  it  by  our  impiety  and  folly." 

The  order  to  the  army  by  President  Lincoln,  in  1862, 
breathes  a  similar  appreciation  of  the  holy  Sabbath. 

Men  of  Culture. 

Addison  in  his  '' Spectator"  says  :  ''If  keeping  holy 
the  seventh  day  were  only  a  human  institution  it 
would  be  the  best  method  that  could  have  been 
thought  of  for  polishing  and  civilizing  mankind." 

Michel  Chevalier  says  :  ''Since  one  day  in  seven  is 
indispensable  to  the  man  who  works,  let  us  keep  the 
Sabbath  in  the  name  of  Hygiene,  if  not  in  the  name 
of  religion." 


230  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATM. 

Chateaubriand  says  :  "We  know  now  by  experience 
that  the  fifth  day  is  one  too  soon,  and  the  tenth  is  one 
too  far  for  repose.  The  Reign  of  Terror,  which  could 
do  anything  in  France,  was  not  able  to  force  the 
peasant  to  keep  the  decade,  because  there  is  not 
power  sufficient  in  human  or  animal  forces.  The  ox 
cannot  labor  nine  days  in  succession.  At  the  end  of 
six  his  groaning  seems  to  demand  the  hours  marked 
by  the  Creator  for  the  general  repose  of  the  creatures, 
and  the  week,  dethroned  for  a  moment,  regained  its 
eternal  empire.  No  one  can  prevail  against  the  work 
of  God." 

W.  F.  Hook  says,  *'  A  large  portion  of  every  popu- 
lation, under  the  existing  circumstances  of  society, 
must  always  be  supported  upon  the  minimum  of  pay. 
They  will  be  remunerated  for  their  labor  by  receiving 
barely  what  will  supply  them  with  food  and  raiment. 
This  they  now  receive  for  six  days'  work  :  they  would 
receive  no  more  for  seven." 

William  Arthur  declares,  "No  charter  which  men 
ever  won  by  their  life-blood  carries  such  an  amount 
of  civil  rights  as  that  which  measures  out  to  all  sub- 
ordinates, whether  son  or  daughter,  man-servant  (^r 
maid-servant,  one  seventh  of  their  entire  lifetime, 
wherein  their  superiors  may  not  exact  from  them  any 
work  of  mere  business  or  pleasure  ;  wherein,  except 
from  acts  of  duty,  they  are  free — free  to  devote  them- 
selves to  healthful  rest  and  holy  enjoyment.  Erase 
from  the  public  mind  this  idea  of  the  Lord's  Day,  and 
replace  it  by  the  French  idea  of  Sunday,  and  all  those 
civil  rights  disappear.     No  poor  man  can  be  wronged 


TESTIMONY.  23 1 

out  of  his  Sabbath  without  exposing*  other  working- 
men  to  the  danger  of  similar  wrong,  the  actual  labor 
of  the  one  being  pleaded  in  palliation  of  burdens 
meant  to  be  laid  on  the  other  ;  and  no  public  institu- 
tion can  be  made  an  instrument  of  Sunday  amuse- 
ments without  increasing  the  danger  that  all  other 
public  institutions  shall  be  perverted  to  the  same 
end." 

Thomas  Hughes  says  :  "  I  was  trained  as  a  child  to 
look  upon  Sunday  as  a  day  which  should  be  devoted 
to  rest  and  w^orship.  Every  year  that  has  passed 
over  my  head  since  childhood  has  strengthened  those 
early  impressions.  I  look  upon  Sunday  as  a  quite 
unspeakable  blessing  to  all  Christian  nations,  and 
above  all  to  our  race,  upon  whom  so  large  a  share  of 
the  world's  hard  work  has  been  laid  in  this  marvel- 
lous country,  and  who  are  addressing  themselves  to 
it  with  an  energy  full  of  hope  and  promise  for  the 
future,  while  controlled  by  high  purpose  and  high 
principle,  but  constantly  in  danger  of  running  into 
feverish  haste  and  reckless  and  unrighteous  greed  of 
possession — an  unmanly  hankering  after  material 
prosperity  and  wealth.  Against  this  false  tendency 
— this  subtle  temptation  of  us  English  folks  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic  — Sunday,  God's  appointed  day 
of  rest  and  worship,  stands  out  as  the  great  bulwark 
and  safeguard.  No  man  who  has  faith  in  God  and  a 
true  love  for  his  country  would  do  any  act  or  say 
any  word  which  could  endanger  in  the  remotest  de- 
gree the  reverence  for  the  observance  of  that  day." 

F.    D.  Maurice  says  :    "  My  own   reverence  for  the 


232        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

Sabbath  would  seem  to  many  extreme.  I  believe 
England  and  Scotland  will  perish  if  they  lose  it,  or 
begin  to  regard  it  as  Protestants  and  Romanists 
abroad  do.  I  could  not  understand  the  Christian 
Sabbath  if  I  did  not  find  the  first  form  of  it  and  the 
statement  of  its  permanent  significance  in  the  fourth 
commandment.  I  look  upon  it  as  still  expressing  in 
that  union  of  rest  and  work,  which  is  implied  in  the 
constitution  of  the  universe  and  of  man  ;  as  still 
affirming  that  man's  rest  has  its  foundation  in  God's 
rest,  man's  work  in  God's  work  ;  as  still  proclaiming 
common  blessings  to  the  master  and  the  servant,  and 
the  cattle.  I  regard  the  Lord's  Day  as  the  great 
message  to  human  beings,  the  great  silent  message 
which  is  mightier  than  words,  but  which  words  ought 
to  interpret  concerning  the  reconciliation  of  God  to 
man." 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  says :  "  Christianity  has 
given  us  the  Sabbath,  the  jubilee  of  the  whole  world  ; 
whose  light  dawns  welcome  alike  into  the  closet  of 
the  philosopher,  into  the  garret  of  toil,  and  into 
prison-cells,  and  everywhere  suggests,  even  to  the 
vile,  the  dignity  of  spiritual  being." 

A  leading  New  York  journal  makes  this  utterance  : 
'*  We  are  opposed  to  anything  which  tends  to  increase 
the  already  too  great  tendency  to  break  down  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath.  Irrespective  of  any  re- 
ligious question,  which  we  do  not  now  here  discuss, 
the  difficulty  is  that  its  secularization  will  tend  to 
diminish  its  prestige  as  a  season  of  rest  from  physical 
labor ;  and  this  would  be  a  consummation  to  be  de- 


TESTIMONY.  233 

precated,  for  the  reason  that  in  this  over-active  and, 
as  we  sometimes  think,  fatally  busy  country  a  very 
little  opportunity  will  set  a  considerable  portion  of 
producers  to  work  on  Sunday,  thus  complicating  the 
labor  question,  which  is  complicated  enough  already." 

Medical  Men. 

Professor  Mussey,  of  the  Ohio  Medical  College, 
says  :  "  The  Sabbath  should  be  regarded  as  a  most 
benevolent  institution,  adapted  alike  to  the  physical, 
mental,  and  moral  wants  of  man.  In  addition  to  con- 
stant bodily  labor,  the  corroding  influence  of  inces- 
sant mental  exertion  and  solicitude  cannot  fail  to  in- 
duce premature  decay  and  to  shorten  life.  And  there 
cannot  be  a  reasonable  doubt  that,  under  the  due 
observance  of  the  Sabbath,  life  would  on  an  average 
be  prolonged  more  than  one  seventh  of  its  whole 
period — that  is,  more  than  seven  years  in  fifty." 

Dr.  Harrison,  of  the  same  medical  school,  adds  : 
"  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man.  .  .  .  Incessant,  un- 
interrupted toil  wears  out  the  energies  of  man's  limited 
strength.  The  elasticity  of  the  spring  is  destroyed 
by  unabated  pressure.  The  nervous  system  is  espe- 
cially relieved  by  alternations  of  activity  and  repose, 
and  by  diversifications  of  impressions.  The  sacred 
quietness  of  the  Sabbath  takes  off  from  the  brain 
that  excessive  fulness  of  blood  which  the  mental  and 
bodily  exercise  of  six  days  is  calculated  to  produce. 
All  experience  is  expressive  of  this  universal  proposi- 
tion, that  a  longer  life  and  a  greater  degree  of  health 
are  the  sure  results  of  a  careful  regard  of  the  com- 


234  DEFENCE  OF  THE   SABBATH. 

mandment,  '  Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it 
holy.'  "  Ebenezer  Alden  of  Massachusetts  says  :  ''  I 
view  it  as  a  day  of  compensation  for  the  inadequate 
restorative  power  of  the  body  under  continued  labor 
and  excitement.  The  Sabbath  holds  the  same  relation 
to  the  week  that  night  does  to  day.  .  .  .  Unneces- 
sary labor  on  the  Sabbath  is  a  physical  sin,  a  trans- 
gression of  a  physical  law,  a  law  to  which  a  penalty 
is  attached  —  a  penalty  which  cannot  be  obviated. 
Whoever  tramples  upon  the  Sabbath  making  it  a  day 
of  toil,  instead  of  a  day  of  rest,  is  living  too  fast,  and 
will  in  consequence  the  sooner  reach  that  bourn  from 
which  no  traveller  returns." 

The  New  Haven  Medical  Association,  consisting  of 
twenty-five  physicians,  was  asked  its  opinion  of  the 
testimony  of  the  eminent  Dr.  Farre  of  England 
given  to  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
They  unanimously  replied  in  the  affirmative  to  the 
following  questions  : 

1.  Is  the  position  taken  by  Dr.  Farre,  in  his  testi- 
mony before  the  committee  of  the  British  House  of 
Commons,  in  your  view  correct  ? 

2.  Will  men  who  labor  but  six  days  in  a  week  be 
more  healthy  and  live  longer,  other  things  being 
equal,  than  those  who  labor  seven  ? 

3.  Will  they  do  more  work,  and  do  it  in  a  better 
manner  ? 

Dr.  John  C.  Warren  of  Harvard  Medical  College, 
Boston,  observes  :  "  I  concur  entirely  in  the  opinion 
expressed  by  Dr.  Farre,  whom  I  personally  know  as 
a  physician  of  the  highest  respectability.    The  breath- 


TESTIMONY.  535 

ing  the  pure  and  sublime  atmosphere  of  a  religious 
Sabbath  refreshes  and  invigorates  the  spirit.  It 
forms  an  epoch  in  our  existence  from  which  we  re- 
ceive a  new  impulse,  and  thus  constitutes  the  best 
preparation  for  the  labors  of  the  following  week." 

We  cite  as  our  closing  witness,  Dupanloup,  late 
Archbishop,  and  Senator  of  France,  as  summing  up 
the  testimony  of  all  ages  and  races  of  men,  and  of 
greater  force,  because  arising  from  careful  observa- 
tion and  study  of  the  Sabbath  history  of  his  country  : 
"  I  will  speak  of  the  admirable  qualities  of  the  law 
of  the  Sabbath,  its  character  eminently  civilizing,  as 
well  as  religious  ;  its  astonishing  harmonies  with  the 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  nature  of  man  ;  its 
absolute  necessity  at  so  many  points  of  view  ;  its 
striking  correspondence  with  all  the  needs  of  the  in- 
dividual, the  family,  and  society,  and  we  may  say 
with  the  entire  life  of  man  ;  all  the  Sabbath  faithfully 
observed  will  bring  of  advantage  and  joy,  of  every 
kind  of  liberty,  of  dignity,  of  health  itself  for  body 
and  soul,  of  virtues  both  private  and  public  ;  all  that 
in  fact  has  disappeared  from  our  midst  along  with 
respect  for  that  ancient  and  venerable  law  ;  all  the 
vices  and  all  other  miseries,  and  all  the  degradations 
which  have  come  and  are  still  coming  to  chastise  us 
for  our  counterfeit  for  that  grand  institution — such 
things  strike  with  all  the  clearness  of  evidence  any 
one  who  will  reflect  with  ever  so  little  seriousness  and 
profundity  upon  the  Sabbath-day."  In  another  place 
he  says  of  the  deterioration  of  society  without  the 
Sabbath  :  "  One  would  think   that   modern   industry 


236        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

had  filled  the  world  with  machines  which  almost  have 
souls,  and  souls  which  are  nothing  more  than  machines. 
With  the  Sabbath  they  are  men,  and  not  merely 
machines."  In  still  another  place  he  exclaims  with 
impassioned  eloquence  of  the  Sabbath  :  "  It  is  the* 
day  of  man,  the  day  of  the  people.  O  law  admira- 
bly providential  and  divine,  profoundly  calculated 
by  Him  who  knows  man  well  because  He  created 
him,  astonishingly  adapted  to  all  his  exigencies  and 
smallest  interests  of  life  !  God  desired  labor.  It  is 
the  law,  it  is  the  dignity  of  man  as  well  as  his  test. 
But  He  also  desired  repose,  which  is  a  necessity  of 
man's  nature  and  of  his  limited  powers.  Hence 
man  has  the  right  to  repose,  just  as  he  has  the  duty 
of  labor.  Therefore,  that  there  might  be  no  place  for 
irregular  and  capricious  fancy  in  a  matter  of  so  lofty 
and  so  universal  necessity,  repose  was  divinely  regu- 
lated by  a  law  contemporary  with  the  creation  of 
man  and  of  the  world.  And  when  we  contemplate 
more  closely  and  deeply  all  the  benefits  hidden  by 
God  in  that  august  law,  we  are  ravished  by  admira- 
tion. 'The  world  is  yours,'  said  God  to  men  ;  'con- 
quer it,  transform  it  by  labor.  But  do  not  transform 
labor  into  a  murderous  and  brutalizing  yoke  for  the 
laboring  man,  who  is  my  creature,  and  my  child  :  I 
want  him  to  belong  to  himself  on  certain  days  fixed 
by  myself.  I  prohibit  any  one  from  chaining  him  on 
those  days  to  incessant  labor.  I  ordain  that  on  those 
days  he  shall  breathe  and  repose.'  Human  nature  is 
repugnant  to  uninterrupted  work  :  in  that  way  man 
would  quickly  e.xhaust  himself  and  perish.    His  frame, 


TESTIMONY.  237 

as  Job  once  said,  is  not  like  that  of  the  stones,  and  his 
flesh  is  not  of  brass.  Hence  repose  is  necessary  to 
renew  him,  and  enable  him  to  return  with  success  to 
his  task.  This  being  rigorously  necessary  to  man, 
by  that  necessity  repose  is  a  law  natural  and  divine. 
That  necessity  is  so  capital  in  human  economy,  that 
God  in  His  wisdom  and  goodness  could  not  leave 
these  things  to  arbitrary  human  caprice.  He  regu- 
lated repose  in  such  exact  proportion  with  the  law  of 
labor  and  of  production,  that  the  measure  has  been 
found  to  agree  with  all  peoples  in  all  ages,  and  has 
proved  the  most  universal  law  of  human  society,  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  modern  economists  who  have 
studied  the  subject." 


VII. 

The  House  of  God  Its  Bulwark. 

"  Sundays  observe.     Think  when  the  bells  do  chime 
'Tis  angels'  music  ;  therefore  come  not  late  : 
God  then  deals  blessings.  ..." 

I.  It  is  an  oracle  of  the  divine  knowledge  the  Sabbath 
reveals  and  celebrates. — No  solution  of  problems  of 
being  or  destiny  is  possible  by  the  senses,  experience, 
testimony,  or  by  the  discoveries  of  reason.  Exact 
science  is  a  mere  fragment  of  knowledge — a  segment 
of  a  circle  reason  cannot  trace,  a  column  or  arch  of 
a  temple  she  cannot  rear,  a  feature  of  a  landscape 
she  cannot  survey.  Her  research  pressed  to  its  far- 
thest possible  limits  ends  on  a  doubtful  frontier,  like 
a  road  jutting  on  a  sea,  whose  waves  wash  an  unknown 
shore.  What  we  call  positive  knowledge  is  but  an 
islet  off  the  coast  of  an  unexplored  continent.  Com- 
pared with  the  world-wide  domain  of  ignorance,  it  is 
insular,  narrow,  insignificant.  Only  faith  rises  to  any 
apprehension  of  a  first  cause,  the  origin  of  the  uni- 
verse, moral  government,  immortality,  or  happy  des- 
tiny. Paul  challenging  rational  "agnosticism"  de- 
clares,*'by  faith  we  understand  the  worlds  were 
made,"  and  attain  the  only  possible  solution  of  the 
problem  of  the  universe.     Divine  revelations  are  the 


THE   HOUSE    OF   GOD   ITS   BULWARK.  239 

text-books  of  this  intuitive  knowledge,  the  Sabbath  is 
its  school  period,  and  the  house  of  God  is  opened  to 
impart  it  to  succeeding  generations.  It  is  opened  in 
every  land  before  the  public  school,  and  imparts  know- 
ledge more  vitally  important  to  private  and  public 
virtue  than  any  mere  secular  education.  The  common- 
school  does  not  more  promote  secular  or  the  college 
professional  training,  than  the  house  of  God  spiritual 
culture.  The  observatory,  with  its  maps,  meri- 
dian circle,  and  telescope,  is  not  more  essential  to  tlie 
propagation  of  astronomical  science  than  the  house 
of  God  with  its  Sabbath  and  ministry  to  the  dissemi- 
nation of  spiritual  knowledge.  Awaking  to  a  sense 
of  the  mystery  of  his  being,  man  goes  up  to  the  house 
of  God,  as  the  ancient  Greek  to  the  Delphian  oracle 
to  study  questions  above  the  range  of  his  reason  or 
experience,  or  the  testimony  of  his  fellow  men.  Clos- 
ing houses  of  God,  silencing  their  pulpits  and  choirs, 
would  quench  the  light  of  the  Sabbath,  and  spread  the 
gloom  of  a  moral  night  over  the  earth.  The  house  of 
God  is  the  lens  which  converges  the  light  of  the  Sab- 
bath on  the  paths,  homes,  and  hearts  of  mankind.  By 
devoting  the  Sabbath  to  this  high  educational  pur- 
pose, the  house  of  God  helps  to  consecrate  and  per- 
petuate the  Sabbath  to  mankind. 

2.  //  is  a  stronghold  of  virtues  the  Sabhath  enforces. — 
Virtue  is  the  discovery  of  intuition,  not  of  reason.  A 
child  deferring  obedience  till  it  apprehends  the 
reasonableness  of  a  law,  never  attains  filial  virtue. 
And  man  spurning  all  obligations  till  he  has  grounded 
their  authority  and  sanctions  in  reason,  never  becomes 


240  DEFENCE   OF  THE   SABEATHo 

virtuous.  "  'Tis  religion  that  makes  vows  kept" — vows 
of  personal  duty,  family  purity,  business  integrity, 
political  honor,  and  of  fraternity  to  all  mankind.  The 
sense  of  religion,  which  is  indestructible  in  the  heart 
of  man,  is  the  spring  and  impulse  of  all  virtues  alike. 
Hence  the  devotees  of  the  lowest  faiths  are  superior 
in  character  to  those  of  the  same  mental  capacities, 
traditions,  and  secular  training  who  desecrate  temples 
and  altars,  and  contemn  all  religious  observance.  Ris- 
ing through  all  grades  of  endowment  and  culture,  the 
religious  man  will  be  found  more  conscientious,  up- 
right, charitable,  and  disinterested  than  the  irreligious. 

Every  summons  to  the  contemplation  of  the  charac- 
ter, will,  and  glory  of  the  Supreme  Being  is  a  trumpet- 
call  to  a  righteous  life,  and  the  purest  worship  is  an 
aspiration  and  impulse  toward  the  most  exalted  vir- 
tue. Every  place  of  worship  becomes  a  place  of  spiri- 
tual culture.  Places  of  pagan.  Buddhistic,  Jewish, 
Mohammedan,  as  well  as  Christian  worship  have  nour- 
ished the  highest  personal,  domestic,  social,  and  polit- 
ical virtues  of  their  times. 

The  charities,  reforms,  and  missions  which  adorn 
Christendom  have  gone  forth  as  a  resplendent  pro- 
cession from  the  house  of  God.  The  most  extensive 
moral  reforms  have  followed  increased  attendance 
upon  the  house  of  God.  The  patrons  of  the  saloon, 
race-course,  cockpit,  dog-ring,  and  other  more  shame- 
less resorts,  have  generally  been  estranged  from  the 
house  of  God,  and  never  exhibited  the  character  of 
true  worshippers.  Weaned  from  churches,  men  are 
always  exposed,  if  not  disposed,  to  a  course  of  vice. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   GOD    ITS   BULWARK.  24 1 

Prisoners  before  court  in  prison  and  on  the  gallows 
have  often  confessed  their  prodigal  career  began  in 
abandoning  the  house  of  God.  Thousands  adorning 
society  by  their  virtues  have  declared  their  encourage- 
ment to  an  upright  life  was  derived  chiefly  from  the 
companionship  and  culture  of  the  Sabbath  and  the 
house  of  God.  Early  in  this  century  a  friend  of  the 
author  came  to  this  country  as  an  orphan.  Guided 
by  a  wary  instinct  of  prudence,  he  left  Sabbath-break- 
ing companions  and  became  a  member  of  a  Sabbath- 
school,  and  afterward  of  a  church.  He  became  a 
successful  merchant,  and  a  distinguished  Christian 
layman  and  philanthropist.  He  recalled  the  names 
of  fellow-apprentices  and  fellow-journeymen  who  re- 
proached him  for  his  devotion  to  the  Sabbath  and 
the  church.  Few  of  them  acquired  worldly  compe- 
tence. Many  remained  poor.  Several  died  with  de- 
lirium tremens.  Others  suffered  as  felons  in  prison 
or  on  the  gallows.  "  The  sparrow  hath  found  a  house, 
and  the  swallow  a  nest  for  herself,  where  she  may  lay 
her  young,  even  thine  altars,  O  Lord  of  hosts,  my 
King  and  my  God."  The  timid  and  wary  bird  finds 
the  seclusion  and  sanctity  of  the  house  of  God  the 
best  shelter  for  her  young.  The  house  of  God  is  a 
more  sacred  retreat  from  the  enthralling  temptations 
of  enfeebled  and  exposed  humanity.  On  the  frontier 
of  the  Republic  forts  are  established  to  protect 
pioneers  from  the  treachery  of  savage  outlaws.  If 
surprised  by  any  beleaguering  foe,  they  hasten  with 
their  families  and  movable  effects  to  the  nearest  fort- 
ress, and  feel  safe  beneath  the  national  banner  and 
16 


242  DEFENCE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

the  guns  of  the  garrison.  On  a  doubtful  frontier 
man  is  ever  liable  to  hostile  attack,  capture,  and  en- 
slavement. Jehovah  is  his  refuge  ;  and  the  house  of 
God  symbolizes  His  presence  and  protection.  All 
thorough  moral  culture  requires  the  opportunities  the 
Sabbath  brings  ;  all  those  seeking  moral  reforms  and 
the  highest  spiritual  culture  of  the  race  will  conserve 
and  hallow  the  Sabbath.  Men  will  plant  themselves 
in  the  house  of  God  that  they  may  retain  the  Sabbath 
for  the  spiritual  culture  of  humanity. 

3.  //  is  an  ensign  of  the  peace  the  Sabbath  proclaims. — 
Difference  of  culture  and  rank,  jealousy  of  classes,  ri- 
valries of  parties,  and  bigotry  of  sects  are  ever  cul- 
minating in  domestic  disputes,  social  antagonisms, 
and  civil  wars.  Earth  becomes  a  great  battle-field, 
the  scene  of  varying  conflicts  and  thrilling  tragedies. 
Sometimes  an  armistice  is  proclaimed,  and  races,  na- 
tions, and  classes  maintain  a  posture  of  armed  neutral- 
ity, ever  ready  to  renew  wasting  conflicts.  True  reli- 
gion is  the  great  pacificator.  Christianity  was  intro- 
duced into  the  world  by  an  embassage  of  angels  her- 
alding "  peace  on  earth,  and  good-will  to  men."  As 
foot-hills  grouped  at  the  base  of  a  mountain  seem  to 
sink  almost  to  the  level  of  the  plain,  so  before  the  ex- 
alted majesty  of  Jehovah  the  invidious  distinctions  of 
earth  almost  disappear,  and  men  seem  equal  in  their 
common  insignificance,  and  are  conciliated  to  a  feeling 
of  common  brotherhood.  As  the  Hebrews  trembling 
before  Sinai  forgot  all  differences  of  culture,  rank,  or 
fortune  in  a  sense  of  common  character,  responsibil- 
ity, and  promise  ;  so  in  the  house  of  God   true  wor- 


THE   HOUSE   OF   GOD   ITS   BULWARK.  243 

shippers  lose  envies,  jealousies,  and  hatreds  in  an 
awakened  consciousness  of  the  common  Father,  com- 
mon duty,  and  common  destiny. 

"  Sleep,  sleep  forever,  guilty  thoughts; 
Let  fires  of  vengeance  die; 
And  purged  from  sin  may  I  behold 
A  God  of  purity!" 

As  waters  exhaled  from  stagnant  pools  or  bitter 
fountains  purified  in  the  upper  air  descend  in  pearly 
dews  and  fertilizing  showers,  so  a  soul  aspiring  to 
heaven  loses  all  uncharitable  thoughts  and  feelings, 
and  cherishes  only  sentiments  of  good-will,  and  pro- 
nounces benedictions  and  peace  upon  all.  The  house 
of  God  becomes  a  temple  of  concord,  and  on  its  al- 
tars peace-offerings  are  grateful  to  earth  and  fragrant 
to  heaven.  "  Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it 
is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity !  It  is  like 
the  precious  ointment  that  ran  down  upon  the  beard, 
even  Aaron's  beard  :  that  went  down  to  the  skirts  of 
his  garments  ;  as  the  dew  of  Hermon,  and  as  the  dew 
that  descended  upon  the  mountains  of  Zion  :  for  there 
the  Lord  commanded  His  blessing,  even  life  for  ever- 
more." As  children  return  from  the  truancy  and 
strifes  of  the  day  to  find  pardon,  peace,  and  benedic- 
tion of  the  universal  Father  ;  those  turning  away 
from  the  house  of  God  reopen,  intensify,  and  perpet- 
uate the  envies,  jealousies,  and  strifes  of  mankind. 
As  mankind  with  earnest  yearning  will  continue  to 
desire  peace  and  good-will  among  men,  they  will  con- 


244  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

tinue  to  cherish  the  sanctity  and  uphold  the  r  ithor- 
ity  of  the  Sabbath. 

4.  It  is  an  Ebenezer  of  the  gratitude  the  Sabbath  celebrates. 
— The  grateful  pagan  reared  a  temple  at  the  fountain 
which  refreshed  a  city,  at  the  mouth  of  a  river  which 
fertilized  the  plains,  on  the  brow  of  a  volcano  where 
a  devastating,  fiery    stream   was   turned    aside    from 
fruitful  field  and  peaceful  hamlet.     He  built  one  to 
celebrate  tlie  subsidence  of  a  flood,  the  end  of  a  plague, 
or  a  war.     The   mariner  escaping   from   wreck,  has- 
tened to  the  temple  of  Neptune  ;   the  soldier  returning 
safely  from  foreign  war,  to  the  temple  of  Mars  ;  the 
husbandman,  after  gathering  tlie  last  sheaf  of  a  boun- 
tiful harvest,  to  the  temple  of  Ceres,  to  place  on  its 
altar  votive  offerings.     Throughout  Southern  Europe, 
churches  and  charitable  institution  have  been   built 
to  commemorate  local  or  national  deliverances.     Over 
Christendom  is  ever  rising  from  Christian  assemblies, 
^'Oh   that  men  would  praise  the  Lord  for  His  good- 
ness, and  for  His  wonderful  works  to  the  children  of 
men."     "  Enter  His  gates  with  thanksgiving,  and  into 
His  courts  with  praise  :   be  thankful  to  Him,  and  bless 
His  name."     Neglecting  the  house  of  God  represses 
this  ennobling  homage   to   the   Supreme  Benefactor, 
and  reduces  man  in  sentiments  and  aspirations  to  the 
level  of  the   animal    races.     So   long  as   men  cherish 
gratitude   to   the   Creator,  they  will  bear  offerings  to 
the  house   of  God,  and   so  long  as  they  hallow   the 
house  of  God  they  will  uphold  the  Sabbath. 

5.  //  is  a  refuge  from  the  sorrows  the  Sabbath  assuages. 
— Touched   with   grief,  man   becomes  conscious  of  a 


THE    HOUSE   OF   GOD   ITS    BULWARK.  245 

higher  power  dominating  his  life.  "There  is  a  Divin- 
ity that  shapes  our  ends,  rough  hew  them  how  we 
will  ;"  and  from  Him  we  seek  succor  from  the  sorrow 
the  world  is  impotent  to  relieve.  The  Shunammitish 
woman  sent  to  the  man  of  God  at  Carmel  in  her  sore 
bereavement.  David,  after  bewailing  the  loss  of  an 
idolized  child  in  fasting  and  sackcloth,  went  up  to  the 
house  of  God  for  consolation.  The  Hebrew  in  his 
afflictions,  however  remote  from  Jerusalem, — even  from 
the  land  of  the  Hermonites,  and  the  hill  Mizar, — looked 
toward  the  temple  on  Mount  Zion  for  comfort.  Louis 
Philippe  built  the  chapel  of  St.  Ferdinand  in  Paris  on 
the  spot  where  his  son  and  heir  to  his  crown  was 
killed,  and  the  royal  family  returned  annually  to  this 
memorial  altar  to  weep  and  worship  together.  Mau- 
soleums, catacombs,  and  cemeteries  have  in  all  ages 
been  grouped  near  the  temples  of  God.  Christian 
believers  in  all  lands  and  ages,  overwhelmed  with 
griefs,  have  exclaimed,  ''When  I  am  overwhelmed, 
from  the  end  of  the  earth  I  will  cry  unto  Thee  ;  lead 
me  to  the  rock  that  is  higher  than  I." 

"  The  world  is  full  of  care; 

The  haggard  brow  is  wrought 
In  furrows  as  of  fixed  despair, 
And  checked  the  heavenward  thought. 

"  The  world  is  full  of  grief  ; 
Sorrows  o'er  sorrows  roll ; 
And  the  fair  hope  that  brings  relief 
Doth  sometimes  pierce  the  soul." 


246        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

These  sorrows  quicken  the  sense  of  religion,  some- 
times dormant  in  the  heart. 

**  There  is  no  God,  the  foolish  saith  ; 
But  none,  there  is  no  sorrow  : 
And  nature  oft  the  cry  of  faith 
In  bitter  need  doth  borrow. 

**  Eyes  the  preacher  could  not  school 
By  wayside  graves  are  raised  ; 
And  lips  say  'God,  be  pitiful,' 

That  ne'er  said  '  God  be  praised.' " 

So  long  as  man  mourns,  and  seeks  solace  in  the 
house  of  God,  he  will  uphold  the  Sabbath,  as  inviting 
him  by  its  holy  rest  to  the  bosom  of  infinite  mercy. 

6.  //  localizes  the  sanctity  the  Sabbath  breathes  over  the 
world.  —  Pope,  potentate,  or  president  has  an  appointed, 
place  of  meeting  devotee,  subject,  or  citizen.  So  the 
house  of  God  is  man's  audience-chamber  with  the 
Deity.  It  localizes  sanctit}^  Those  seeking  God 
everywhere  with  the  same  devotion  find  Him  no- 
where. "God's  way  is  in  the  sanctuary."  The  cus- 
tomary resorts  of  sovereigns  are  known,  and  citizens 
or  travellers  curious  to  see  them  hasten  to  the  ap- 
pointed place  at  the  appointed  time  to  behold  the 
royal  pageant.  God's  way  through  the  ages  and  over 
all  lands  must  be  traced  in  "His  sanctuary."  Only 
the  religious  spirit  furnishes  any  key  to  a  philosophy 
of  history  or  opens  up  any  revelations  of  God  to  men. 
Men  rearing  no  temples  and  consecrating  no  altars 
to  God  become  practically  atheists.  Men  neglecting 
to   celebrate    the    divine    attributes    and    providence 


THE   HOUSE   OF   GOD   ITS   BULWARK.  247 

cease  to  believe  in  them.  Not  cherishing  the  knowl- 
edge and  love  of  God  in  their  hearts,  they  soon  pro- 
claim atheism  or  follow  superstition.  Civil  empire 
is  localized  in  its  capitol.  Judaism  was  localized  in 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  The  house  of  God  is  the 
external  symbol  and  foundation  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth.  Standing  by  Caesar's  palace  in  Rome, 
one  is  overawed  by  reflecting  that  there  was  the 
throne  of  the  most  renowned  empire  of  the  world. 
Thence  were  sent  forth  armies  of  conquest  to  the 
four  quarters  of  the  globe.  Thence  were  commis- 
sioned the  governors  of  a  hundred  provinces. 
But  a  grander  sovereignty  is  wielded  in  the 
house  of  God  than  in  the  capitols  of  the  mightiest 
empires.  The  public  conscience  is  organized.  And 
a  sense  of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  kindled  where  the  word  of  God  is  preached 
and  sin  is  confessed.  The  conscience,  energized,  be- 
comes both  judge  and  police  to  enforce  the  will  of 
God.  Penal  statutes  and  judicial  awards  are  a  less 
educational  force  than  the  tuition  of  conscience. 
Public  worship  is  a  training  of  individual  consciences. 
Closing  the  house  of  God  would  be  like  disbanding 
armies,  dismantling  forts,  abolishing  police,  and 
abandoning  the  state  to  foreign  invasion  or  domestic 
anarchy.  It  would  shut  religion  out  of  the  hearts, 
homes,  and  affairs  of  men,  and  deny  it  any  standing 
place  on  earth.  But  any  memorial  of  Deity  requires 
time  set  apart  for  His  worship.  Denying  the  Sabbath 
precludes  any  worthy  commemoration. 

So  long  therefore  as  man  believes  in  Divine  Provi- 


248  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

lience  he  will  guard  the  Sabbath  as  a  necessary  pro- 
vision for  its  worthy  celebration.  The  continuance 
of  religious  w^orship  will  perpetuate  the  religious 
day. 

7.  //  symbolizes  the  gate  of  heaven  which  the  Sabbath 
opens  to  a  mortal  race. 

As  a  monument  towering  over  a  cemetery  is  in- 
scribed with  the  emblems  of  a  future  life,  so  the 
house  of  God  rising  amid  the  buried  generations  of 
earth  proclaims  a  resurrection  from  the  dead  and 
everlasting  life.  As  the  astronomer  ascends  an  ob- 
servatory for  a  wider  outlook  into  the  starry  heavens, 
so  humanity  seeks  from  the  moral  elevation  of  the 
house  of  God  revelations  of  an  immortal  destiny. 
While  fires  go  out  on  the  watch-towers  of  time, 
through  the  house  of  prayer  the  broad  daylight  of 
eternity  breaks  upon  the  waiting  vision  of  faith.  The 
spiritual  experiences  which  fit  one  for  a  holier  state 
are  all  associated  with  the  fellowship  of  the  Church. 
There  returning  prodigals,  in  the  anguish  of  self- 
reproach,  breathe  forth  confessions  of  sin.  There  par- 
doned penitents  joyfully  exclaim,  "One  thing  have  I 
desired  of  the  Lord,  that  will  I  seek  after  :  that  I  may 
dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  forever,  to  see  the 
beauty  of  the  Lord  and  inquire  in  His  temple."  As 
Pilgrim  in  the  Interpreter's  house  longed  to  ascend  to 
the  battlements  of  a  temple  where  appeared  men  in 
golden  armor,  though  the  way  was  guarded  by  envi- 
ous archers,  and  in  heroic  consecration  said  to  one 
waiting  to  enroll  heroes  of  faith,  "Write  down  my 
name  ;"  so  in  the  experiences  and  revelations  of  public 


THE   HOUSE   OF   GOD    ITS   BULWARK.  249 

worship  believers  often  find  the  house  of  God  the 
"  gate  of  heaven."  There  can  be  no  assurance  of  hap- 
py destiny  without  faith  in  a  Supreme  Intelligence 
and  Heavenly  Father.  There  can  be  no  faith  in  such 
a  Supreme  Benefactor  w^here  there  is  no  provision  for 
His  worship  nor  obedience  to  His  will.  The  house  of 
God  provides  for  such  filial  homage  and  obedience. 
It  is  a  public  protest  against  atheism,  a  perpetual 
prayer  for  immortality  of  being  and  blessing,  and  an 
open  gate  of  heaven.  Abandoning  the  house  of  God, 
man  turns  from  the  promise  of  immortality  to  the 
gloomy  expectation  of  perishing  with  birds  and  flow- 
ers ;  and  sinks  from  the  portal  of  heaven  to  the  gate  of 
hell.  So  long  as  man  feels  an  irrepressible  longing  for 
immortality,  and  consorts  with  those  who  share  the 
ennobling  aspiration,  he  will  hallow  the  Sabbath  as 
the  great  memorial  of  these  blessed  hopes. 

Through  this  provision  for  the  most  ennobling 
necessities  and  celebration  of  the  most  resplendent 
hopes  of  mankind,  the  perpetuity  of  the  Sabbath  is 
assured  as  of  religion  itself.  But  its  chief  external 
bulwark  is  the  house  of  God.  No  argument  has 
furnished  the  best  defence  of  the  holy  day  which  has 
hot  most  effectually  commended  a  more  general 
attendance  upon  the  house  of  God.  Eloquent  ser- 
mons and  books  fall  short  of  their  aim  unless  they 
persuade  mankind,  in  personal  example  and  family 
discipline,  to  "  Go  up  to  Bethel."  Unless  consecrat- 
ed there,  the  Sabbath  will  be  desecrated  everywhere. 
The  house  of  God  is  the  ark  of  the  Sabbath  covenant. 
Unless    guarded  by  religious    sanction,   the  right  to 


250        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

physical  and  mental  rest  and  recuperation  even  would 
be  denied.  Much  more  without  the  external  defence 
of  public  worship  all  spiritual  worship  and  discipline 
would  cease  on  earth.  While  religion  is  placed  so 
largi^ly  under  the  guardianship  of  the  Sabbath,  the 
Sabbath  is  as  largely  placed  under  the  guardianshio 
t  of  the  house  of  God.  Without  the  sacred  Ark  the 
records  of  divine  revelations  would  have  been  exposed, 
and  liable  to  have  been  destroyed  or  lost.  So  with- 
out the  guardianship  of  the  house  of  God  and  public 
worship  the  Sabbath  would  surely  degenerate  to  a 
holiday.  If  the  Sabbath  leaves  the  house  of  God  it 
loses  its  religious  character  and  sinks  to  the  uncer- 
tain and  demoralizing  uses  of  a  holiday.  Mount 
Zion  is  turned  into  the  devil's  playground.  A 
jubilee  of  sensualism,  lawlessness,  and  crime  is  pro- 
claimed, and  the  Sabbath  instead  of  bridging  the 
temptations  of  the  week  becomes  an  hebdomadal  de- 
scent into  hell.  The  people  who  will  not  serve  God 
shall  be  destroyed  ;  the  people  who  will  not  keep 
the  Sabbath  cannot  serve  God  ;  and  the  people  who 
will  not  build  the  house  of  God,  and  observe  public 
worship  cannot  keep  and  hallow  the  Sabbath.  The 
destinies  of  the  Sabbath  religion,  and  the  virtue  and 
hapiness  of  mankind  are  intrusted  to  the  defence  and 
celebration  of  the  house  of  God.  Invested  with  such 
significance,  trusts,  and  sanctions,  the  house  of  God 
is  the  most  impressive  object  that  challenges  the  awe 
and  study  of  mankind.  The  humblest  spire  rising 
from  the  remotest  frontier  speaks  more  eloquently  of 
the  spiritual  nature,  greatness,  and   destiny  of  man 


THE   HOUSE   OF   GOD   ITS   BULWARK.         25 1 

*' than  pyramids  of  Egypt,  mausoleums  of  Asia,  or 
columns  and  arches  of  Greece  and  Rome  ;"  than  glor- 
ies of  modern  architecture,  the  proudest  capitols  o 
empire,  national  libraries,  or  the  most  renowned  gal- 
leries of  art.  Marking  the  boundaries  of  worlds,  and 
the  point  of  earth's  contact  with  heaven,  and  enforc- 
ing man's  subjection  to  his  Maker,  and  pointing  out 
to  him  the  hope  of  a  blessed  immortality,  the  house 
of  God  touches  profounder  sensibilities,  stirs  a  more 
ennobling  reverence,  and  inspires  more  resplendent 
hopes  than  lofty  mountain-range,  far-sounding  ocean, 
or  starry  heavens.  As  Abraham  consecrated  every 
place  of  his  sojourn  by  an  altar  ;  pious  Hebrews  built 
a  synagogue  wherever  they  built  a  hamlet ;  our  Pil- 
grim fathers,  making  the  Mayflower  a  Bethel  on  the 
first  Sabbath  of  their  arrival  on  the  rocky  New- 
England  coast,  consecrated  the  New  World  to  freedom 
and  to  God  :  so  patriotism,  philanthropy,  and  piety 
should  unite  in  rearing  the  house  of  God  in  every 
town,  village,  rural  district,  and  on  every  frontier  of 
our  extending  Republic.  As  the  shrine  of  hallowed 
associations  of  Sabbath,  divine  revelations,  religious 
worship,  and  of  sacred  experiences  of  sorrow,  grati- 
tude, and  hope  let  it  attract  the  reverence,  worship, 
charity,  and  feeling  of  brotherhood,  and  piety  of  all 
mankind,  and  transfigure  the  Sabbath  rest  into  a 
foretaste  and  prophecy  of  heaven. 


VIII. 

Appeal. 

Man, 

"Welcome,  happy  morning  !  age  to  age  shall  say  ; 
Hell  to-day  is  vanquished  ;  heaven  is  won  to  day  ! 
Lo  !  the  dead  is  living — God  for  evermore  ! 
Him,  their  true  Creator,  all  His  works  adore." 

From  the  morning  of  creation,  through  the  re- 
curring order  of  the  Sabbath,  Jehovah  lias  lifted  up 
his  voice  to  every  age,  every  land,  and  to  every  class 
and  condition  of  men,  "Unto  you,  O  man,  I  call,  and 
my  voice  is  to  the  sons  of  men."  No  man  has  sunk 
so  low  in  ignorance,  wandered  so  far  in  apostasy,  or 
become  so  blackened  with  crimes  or  so  overwhelmed 
by  misfortunes  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  sym- 
pathy and  compassion  of  this  divine  appeal.  In  an- 
nouncing Messiah,  the  prophet  did  not  promise  be- 
atitudes merely  to  the  worthy  or  to  the  averaged  char- 
acter of  men,  but  especially  to  the  fallen,  the  lowly, 
the  helpless,  and  hopeless.  "The  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
God  is  upon  me  ;  because  the  Lord  hath  anointed  me 
to  preach  good  tidings  unto  the  meek  :  He  hath  sent 
me  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty 
to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are   bound  ;  to  proclaim   the  acceptable  year  of 


APPEAL.  253 

llie  Lord,  and  the  day  of  vengeance  of  our  God  ;  to 
comfort  all  that  mourn  in  Zion,  to  give  unto  them 
beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  the  gar- 
ments of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness."  As  fore- 
casting the  scope  of  His  divine  mission,  Christ  read  in 
tlie  synagogue  of  Nazareth  this  Messianic  Prophecy. 
His  whole  ministry  was  inspired  by  the  tenderest  sym- 
pathy for  the  outcast  and  the  suffering.  His  parables 
encouraged  exceptional  care  for  the  afiflicted  and  the 
prodigal.  The  great  commission  discriminated  against 
no  class,  except  those  rejecting  offers  of  mercy. 
While  one  land,  class,  or  individual  remains  uncheered 
by  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation,  the  mission  of  Christ 
is  not  accomplished. 

The  Sabbath  is  catholic  as  the  mission  of  Christ, 
and  symbolizes  and  commends  the  universality  of 
the  divine  beneficence  and  compassion.  It  summons 
the  lowly,  the  sinful,  and  the  wretched  into  the  sym- 
pathizing presence  of  the  same  loving  Father.  It  ap- 
points for  them  as  well  as  for  more  fortunate  classes 
a  day  of  audience  with  God,  consecrates  earth  cano- 
pied with  the  blue  sky  as  a  temple  for  them  to  wor- 
ship in,  and  transfigures  life  as  their  stewardship.  It 
is  a  symbolic  rest  and  jubilation  over  creation  and 
redemption  accomplished.  In  the  Sabbath  ritual  the 
human  race  unite  in  commemorating  the  fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  in  celebrat- 
ing common  faith,  common  duty,  common  hope,  and 
common  worship.  The  Sabbath  is  a  permanent  pro- 
vision for  rest,  worship,  good  works,  charitable  minis- 
tries, higher  education,  and  exaltation  of  the  chai'acter 


254  DEFENCE   OF   THE    SABBATH. 

and  destiny  of  all  mankind.  As  a  primitive  divine 
ordinance  it  is  above  the  state  and  above  the  churcl:, 
and  will  remain  the  basis  of  union,  fellowship,  and 
discipline  of  all  believers  in  God,  a  Saviour,  and  a 
future  life. 

There  is  no  interest  of  man  the  Sabbath  will  not 
subserve.  It  assures  health  to  the  body,  vigor  to  the 
mind,  and  purity  to  the  heart. 

In  its  true  observance  the  lost  brotherhood  of  hu- 
manity is  restored,  a  new  patent  of  nobility  is  found, 
and  man  rises  above  any  order  made  by  the  decree  of 
kings.  Diploma  of  university,  nor  membership  of 
royal  academy  of  science  and  art,  attests  so  exalted 
attainments  or  so  high  character  as  the  true  disci- 
pline of  the  Sabbaths  of  life  assures. 

O  blessed  Sabbath  !  Before  priest  or  prophet  thou 
wert  God's  ordinance,  providing  freedom  for  rest, 
worship,  elevated  thought  and  ennobling  aspiration, 
and  the  promise  of  blessed  destiny.  Without  thy  re- 
turn, light  of  divine  knowledge  would  fade  from  the 
earth,  man  would  sink  to  the  violence  of  animalism, 
the  darkness  of  despair,  and  the  gloom  of  an  eternal 
sleep  would  brood  over  every  grave.  Celebrate  thy 
coming  with  new  jubilance  on  every  sliore.  Gild  the 
mountain-tops  of  every  land  with  the  beams  of  thy 
early  dawn.  Breathe  the  peace  thou  dost  symbolize 
over  every  land  till  wars  shall  cease  over  all  the  earth. 
Celebrate  the  resurrection  of  Christ  and  the  promise 
of  immortality  through  Him,  till  all  nations  shall  be 
cheered  by  the  blessed  hope  of  immortality.  Multi- 
ply and    marshal   the   charities  of  Christendom  and 


APPEAL.  255 

extend  them  by  Christian  missions  till  the  miseries  of 
life  shall  be  assuaged — "sorrow  and  sighing"  no  more 
be  heard  over  the  earth.  Elevate  the  tone  of  thought 
and  education  till  each  generation  shall  rise  up  in  ex- 
alted virtues  and  perfected  character,  filling  earth 
with  happiness  and  heaven  with  praise  ;  till  the  low- 
est tribe  of  earth  shall  rise  in  culture  and  character 
above  the  most  cultured  and  moral  races  of  the 
earth. 

Moral  teachers,  evangelists,  reformers,  and  all  min- 
isters of  charity  must  make  the  Sabbath  the  field  day 
of  their  operations.  What  other  sign  of  God  can  so 
readily  challenge  the  gaze  and  confidence  of  the  up- 
lifted eye  and  trusting  heart  of  all  mankind  ?  What  sa- 
cred conventionalism  can  gain  so  surely  the  reverence 
and  obedience  of  man  universally?  What  religious 
institution  is  sufficiently  catholic  to  unite  believers  of 
all  faiths  and  ceremonials  alike?  What  other  divine 
ordinance  is  enforced  by  such  venerable  antiquity,  such 
simple  and  available  ritual,  such  practical  beneficence, 
and  such  resplendent  promise  ?  Paganism,  in  its  local 
character  and  ceremonial,  outgrown  by  the  culture 
and  speculation  of  ages,  is  being  abandoned,  with  its 
I^igodas,  priesthood,  and  ritual.  It  has  no  promise 
of  mastery  over  the  faith  and  conscience  of  the  world. 

Buddhism,  a  type  of  gloomy  asceticism,  a  reaction 
from  the  empty  form  of  an  external  religion,  exhaust- 
ing its  duties  and  promises  in  the  external  regime  of  a 
Pharisaical  life,  is  clearly  being  worn  out,  and  aban- 
doned by  its  most  zealous  votaries  who  long  for  the 
freedom  and  promise  of  grace.     There  is  no  rational 


256  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

promise  of  its  uniting  the  world  in  its  ceremonial  of 
despair. 

Judaism,  notwithstanding  its  exalted  morality  and 
pure  theism,  has  failed  to  commend  itself  to  the  ob- 
servance and  discipline  of  mankind,  or  to  satisfy  the 
spiritual  craving  of  the  most  pious  Hebrews  them- 
selves, as  their  looking  and  longing  for  a  Messiah 
testify.  Historical  Judaism  has  no  promise  of  gov- 
erning the  religious  faitli  and  discipline  of  the  world. 

Christianity  is  the  only  rising  faith.  Through  her 
Sabbath  she  will  challenge  the  attention  of  the  think- 
ing world  to  trace  in  Nature's  volume  and  in  sacred 
Scripture  the  meaning,  duty,  and  destiny  of  life,  till 
the  darkness  of  ignorance  and  superstition  disappears, 
and  the  light  of  divine  knowledge  and  true  civiliza- 
tion beams  over  every  land. 

In  thy  coming,  holy  day,  proclaim  as  from  thunder- 
ing Sinai  the  righteous  laws  of  God  in  the  instruc- 
tion of  pious  homes  and  of  worshipping  assemblies, 
till  all  shall  "know  the  Lord,  from  the  least  to  the 
greatest,"  domestic,  social,  moral,  and  political  reforms 
shall  be  perfected  in  every  nation,  in  ever}^  part  of  the 
world.  In  thy  celebration  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  from  the  dead,  whisper  in  the  ear  of  the  dying, 
speak  in  circles  of  bitter  mourning,  declare  in  funeral 
assemblies,  proclaim  over  buried  generations,  that 
triumphant  and  blessed  assurance  of  thy  Lord  and 
the  world's  Saviour,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the 
life  :  he  that  believeth  in  Me,  though  he  were  dead, 
yet  shall  he  live;"  summoning  the  world,  in  "bond- 
age   through    fear    of    death,"   k)    the    empty    grave 


APPEAL. 


257 


of  Christ,  until  they  shall  exclaim  with  the  Apostle, 
*' O  death  !  where  is  thy  sting?  O  grave  !  where  is 
thy  victory  ?  Thanks  be  unto  God,  who  giveth  us 
the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ' 

Toiler. 

"  Rest  is  not  quitting 
This  busy  career  : 
Rest  is  the  fitting 

Of  self  to  one's  sphere. 

**'Tis  loving  and  serving, 
The  highest  and  best ; 
'Tis  onward,  unswerving, 
And  this  is  true  rest." 

Is  not  the  Sabbath  a  firmer  defence  of  the  liberty, 
rights,  and  dignity  of  your  manhood  than  Magna 
Charta  or  the  American  Declaration  of  Independence  ? 
Does  it  not,  by  the  prestige  of  divine  authority,  wrest 
you  from  the  clutch  of  the  world's  greed  and  power, 
and  one  day  in  seven  exalt  you,  in  inviolability  of 
person,  property,  family,  and  worship,  as  a  peer  of 
kings?  Is  it  not  a  bulwark  of  free  institutions,  a 
provision  for  popular  education  and  for  the  ameliora- 
tion, of  the  condition  of  all  classes  of  men?  Have 
atheists,  materialists,  and  Sabbath-contemning  com- 
munities ever  raised  up  Howards,  Raikes,  MuUers, 
Clarksons,  to  champion  reforms,  and  awaken  sym- 
pathy and  make  provision  for  the  suffering  classes? 
Are  not  the  Church  of  Christ,  following  the  example 
of  their  Divine  Lord,  the  true  benefactors  of  the 
poor  ? 

17 


258  DEFENCE    OF   THE    SABBATH. 

Is  not  the  Sabbath  an  ever-recurring  opportunity 
for  teaching  the  ignorant,  succoring  the  distressed, 
relieving  the  oppressed,  and  elevating  the  iowlv  ? 
When  rich  and  poor  meet  together  on  the  Sabbath, 
do  not  the  covetousness  of  the  one  and  the  envy  of 
the  other  melt  into  the  sympathies  of  a  common 
brotherhood  ?  Does  not  the  greed  of  men  draw  away 
the  poor  from  the  sanction  of  God's  presence  on  the 
Sabbath  that  it  may  enslave  them  ?  Does  it  not 
beguile  them  from  attending  to  God's  voice  on  the 
holy  day  so  that  it  may  dominate  them  all  the  week  ? 
Does  it  not  pamper  their  lower  nature  on  the  holy  day 
to  paralyze  their  conscience,  and  repress  higher  aspi- 
rations and  nobler  self-assertion  ?  Does  it  not  sink 
the  higher  purposes  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  lower  uses 
of  a  holiday  ?  Are  those  your  true  friends  who  would 
wheedle  you  out  of  a  heavenly  birthright  by  offering 
you  a  holiday  instead  of  a  holy  day  ?  Heed  Douglas 
Jerrold,  as  little  to  be  suspected  of  Puritan  severity 
or  disloyalty  to  the  lowly  as  the  idolized  Burns  : 
"'There  is  something  beautiful  in  the  church-bells, 
don't  you  think  so,  Jem  ? '  asked  Capstick  in  a  sudden 
tone.  'Beautiful  and  hopeful  they  talk  to  high  and 
low,  rich  and  poor  in  the  same  voice  :  there's  a  sound 
in  'em  that  should  scare  pride  and  envy  and  mean- 
ness of  all  sorts  from  the  heart  of  man  ;  that  should 
make  him  look  upon  the  world  with  kind,  forgiving 
eyes  ;  that  should  make  the  earth  appear  to  him  at 
least  for  a  time  a  holy  place.  Yes,  Jem,  there's  a 
whole  sermon  in  every  sound  of  the  church-bell 
(here's  the  note)  if   we  only  have   the  ears  to   rightly 


APPEAL.  259 

understand  it.  There's  a  preacher  in  every  belfry, 
Jem,  that  cries,  "  Poor,  weary,  struggling,  fighting 
creatures — poor  human  things  !  take  rest,  be  quiet. 
Forget  your  vanities,  your  week-day  craft,  your  heart- 
burnings !  And  you,  ye  humble  vessels,  gilt  and 
painted,  believe  the  iron  tongue  that  tells  ye  that  all 
your  gilding,  all  your  colors,  ye  are  the  same  Adam's 
earth  with  the  beggars  at  your  gates.  Come  away, 
come,"  cries  the  church-bell,  ''  and  learn  to  be  humble; 
learning  that,  however  daubed  and  stained  and  stuck 
about  with  jewels,  you  are  but  grave  clay.  Come, 
Dives — come  and  be  taught  all  your  glory,  as  you  wear 
it,  is  not  half  so  beautiful  in  the  eyes  of  heaven  as 
the  sores  of  uncomplaining  Lazarus.  And  ye  poor 
creatures,  livid  and  faint  and  crushed  with  the  pride 
and  hardness  of  the  world — come,  come,  and  learn 
what  is  laid  up  for  you,  and  learning  take  heart,  and 
walk  among  the  wickedness  and  cruelties  of  the  world 
calmly  as  Daniel  walked  among  lions."  Jem,  is  there 
a  finer  sight  than  a  stream  of  human  creatures  pass- 
ing from  a  Christian  church  ? '  " 

Every  true  Christian  church  is  a  league  for  the  de- 
fence of  your  manhood,  a  ministry  to  adorn  your  life 
with  beauty  and  gild  it  with  hope.  From  the  walls 
of  every  church  consecrated  by  the  spirit  and  doc- 
trines of  Christ  are  echoing  in  tones  of  divine  com- 
passion that  immortal  benediction,  "  Blessed  are  ye 
poor  ;"  and  that  sweetest  invitation  that  ever  fell  on 
the  ear  of  distressed  and  sorrowing  humanity,  "  Come 
unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy-laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest." 


26o  DEFENCE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

Railroad  Men. 

"Eternity  in  time;  the  steps  by  which 

We  climb  above  all  ages;  lamps  that  light 
Man  through  his  heap  of  dark  days;  and  the  rich 
And  full  redemption  of  the  whole  week's  flight." 

Do  not  Sunday  railroads  rob  millions  of  their  right 
to  Sabbath  rest  and  worship,  and  of  their  only  oppor- 
tunity for  sharing  the  peace  and  fellowship  of  their 
homes,  and  the  refining  influence  of  the  house  of  God  ? 
Will  not  extending  Sunday  traffic  and  travel  to 
remote  frontiers,  and  disturbing  the  quiet  of  the 
most  secluded  communities,  contribute  to  deaden  the 
public  conscience,  embolden  every  form  of  Sabbath 
profanation,  and  everywhere  raise  barriers  against 
the  decorum  and  discipline  of  public  worship,  Chris- 
tian evangelism,  charities,  reforms,  and  missions  ?  If 
railroads  continue  their  business  in  all  its  ramifica- 
tions, will  it  not  be  impossible  long  to  keep  closed 
factories,  shops,  offices,  and  other  places  of  public 
and  private  industries  ?  Is  not  the  railroad  the  great 
shaft  which  turns  all  tlie  wheels  of  our  industrial  life  ? 
Running  Sunday  trains,  and  promoting  labor  in 
related  branches  of  industry,  does  it  not  lift  over  the 
land  a  defiant  voice  against  the  primitive  divine  law 
which  forbids  labor  on  the  Sabbath  and  assures  a 
weekly  rest  to  the  toiling  world  ?  Do  not  many  of  the 
best  railroad  experts  in  this  country  and  in  Europe 
declare  that  a  large  part  of  the  Sabbath  work  now 
required  of  employes  could  be  given  up  without  dam- 
aging   commerce,    and    with    the    greatest  physical, 


APPEAL.  261 

mental,  and  moral  advantage  to  themselves  and  to 
society  at  large.  Will  you  not  unite  v^^ith  other  rail- 
road men — a  growing  and  powerful  class — in  reforms 
to  restore  and  maintain  as  far  as  possible  the  inviola- 
bility of  the  charter  of  youf  liberty  and  the  patent 
of  your  nobility  ? 

Citizens. 

"  Six  days'  stern  labor  shuts  the  poor 
From  Nature's  careless  banquet-hall  ; 
The  seventh,  an  angel  opes  the  door, 
And  smiling  welcomes  all." 

This  book  is  an  attempt  to  show  that  the  Sabbath  is 
a  natural  law,  authenticated  and  guarded  by  religious 
sanction;  that,  as  universally  necessary  and  beneficent, 
it  must  have  been  intended  by  the  Creator,  not  for 
one  generation,  race,  or  age  merely,  but  for  all  gene- 
rations, races,  and  ages  alike.  A  law  so  wise  and 
beneficent  was  not  left  to  the  uncertain  apprehension 
or  varying  interpretations  of  men  ;  but  enjoined  by 
positive  appointment  at  the  birth  of  the  race,  and  en- 
forced by  the  ever-recurring  order  of  day  and  night. 
The  discovery  of  natural  theology  and  the  sanction 
of  human  expediency  were  anticipated  by  a  mandate 
of  divine  revelation.  "Remember  the  Sabbath  to 
keep  it  holy"  is  but  an  articulation  of  a  primitive  divine 
law.  As  thus  established,  should  not  the  Sabbath,  like 
the  family  and  the  other  precepts  of  the  Decalogue,  be 
postulated  as  the  necessary  foundation  of  civil,  society? 

Have  not  all  historical  races  observed  some  memo- 
rial or  religious   festivals  ?     Have   not    all   Christian 


262        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

nations  recognized  and  guarded  the  Sabballi  by  civil 
enactment  and  religious  ceremonial?  Have  any 
Christian  philosophers,  statesmen,  or  other  trusted 
leaders  of  social  progress  advised  the  remission  of 
Sabbath  laws,  or  a  more  general  secularization  of  the 
Sabbath  ?  Have  not  the  most  profound  students  of 
the  problem  of  human  destiny  united  with  ecclesias- 
tics in  commending  the  special  beneficence,  obvious 
expediency,  and  imperative  obligations  of  the  Sab- 
bath ?  As  a  traditional  and  legal  foundation  of  the 
Republic,  should  not  the  Sabbath  be  guarded  with 
increasing  vigilance  by  national.  State,  and  munici- 
pal laws?  Affecting  indifference  to  the  sacredness 
of  the  day,  would  not  courts  and  magistracy  dishonor 
their  official  trusts,  and  publicly  abet  atheism  ?  The 
sacred  convictions  and  traditions  of  a  people  formu- 
late their  political  constitutions.  There  was  no  more 
etfective  factor  in  shaping  our  American  manhood, 
civilization,  and  institutions  than  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath. As  well  expect  a  temple  to  stand  securely  after 
its  foundation  has  been  removed  as  for  our  free  institu- 
tions to  stand  afterour  Christian  school,  Christian  civ- 
ilization, and  Chiistian  Sabbath  have  been  subverted. 
Losingthe  repose  ,  deliberation,  and  self-discipline  the 
Sabbath  promotes,  any  people  will  at  length  require 
enlarged  police  and  militar}'  force  to  maintain  law 
and  order.  Can  any  people  rapidly  acquiring  wealth, 
power,  and  empire,  but  never  pausing  in  the  rush  of 
its  pursuits  to  think,  deliberate,  contemplate  sacred 
principles,  resolve  and  enter  upon  nobler  plans  of 
life,  ever  rise  to  the  highest  political  brotherhood,  or 


APPEAL.  263 

create  a  great  and  permanent  nation  ?  Are  not  the 
observance  and  defence  of  the  Sabbath  the  imperative 
and  sacred  duty  of  every  good  citizen? 

Foreigji-born. 

"Yes,  child  of  suffering,  thou  may'st  well  be  sure 
He  who  ordained  the  Sabbath,  loves  the  poor." 

Gentiles  became  naturalized  Hebrews,  and  inher- 
ited the  promises  of  Israel.  The  identity  and  per- 
petuity of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  were  assured 
by  enforcing  exclusive  terms  of  citizenship. 

In  the  extension  of  Roman  empire,  Roman  citizen- 
ship was  warily  awarded  to  individuals,  and  cities. 
Those  receiving  the  honor  exclaimed  in  proud  con- 
sciousness of  security,  ''I  am  a  Roman  citizen;" 
and  to  the  farthest  boundary  of  the  empire  they  were 
protected  by  Roman  magistrate  or  Roman  soldier 
from  personal  violence  or  the  oppression  of  hostile 
states. 

In  the  increasing  travel  and  colonization  of  modern 
times,  great  states  protect  their  citizens  in  foreign 
lands  only  as  they  conform  to  the  customs  and  laws 
of  tlie  countries  where  they  seek  the  instruction  of 
travel,  the  profit  of  commerce,  or  the  shelter  of  home. 
No  land  welcomes  travel  or  sojourn  in  its  borders 
without  formal  or  tacit  oath  to  upliold  and  honor  its 
customs,  laws,  and  institutions. 

No  nation,  ancient  or  modern,  has  welcomed  to 
their  shores  with  broader  hospitality  the  people  of  all 
lands,  languages,  and  conditions  than  the  American 
Republic.     She  has  asked  no   passport  for  travellers  ; 


264        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

she  invites  the  oppressed  of  all  nations  to  find  an 
asylum,  citizenship,  and  fortune  on  her  broad 
prairies,  along  her  magnificent  lakes  and  rivers,  among 
her  boundless  forests  and  her  unexplored  mines. 
But  though  liberal  in  her  terms  of  citizenship  she 
has  expected  those  seeking  her  protection  and  im- 
munities to  conform  to  her  sacred  traditions  and  laws. 
As  other  nations  have  based  public  education  and 
moral  discipline  upon  accepted  standards  of  religion, 
the  founders  of  our  Republic  accepted  Christianity, 
with  its  sacred  writings  and  holy  Sabbath,  as  the 
common-law  of  the  land.  As  there  has  been  no 
empire  or  civilization  without  a  religious  basis,  and 
Christianity  is  manifestly  the  most  beneficent  system 
of  religion  ever  propagated,  and  the  Sabbath  is  at  once 
the  memorial  and  foundation  of  all  Christian  organi- 
zation and  discipline,  they  incorporated  the  Sabbath 
into  the  structure  of  the  government.  The}?-  did  not 
expect  those  seeking  to  share  this  grandest  experiment 
of  civilization  and  empire  would  challenge  the  sagacity 
and  wisdom  of  those  who  projected  it,  or  discredit  its 
traditions  and  laws.  If  they  preferred  other  social 
and  civil  institutions,  the  whole  world  was  open  for 
their  choice.  If  they  chose  America,  it  was  natural  to 
suppose  they  came  to  build  up  the  temple  of  liberty 
on  foundations  already  providentially  laid.  With  so 
many  political  wrecks  strown  along  the  shores  of  his- 
tory, good  men  should  be  slow  to  challenge  the  most 
auspicious  experiment  of  popular  government  ever 
attempted.  Has  greater  success  attended  anv  politi- 
cal experiment  than  has  crowned  this  rising  Republic 


APPEAL.  265 

based  upon  the  Christian  Scriptures,  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  and  tlie  free  Christian  Church.  There  would 
be  little  danger  from  increase  of  Mongolian  or  other 
foreign  emigration  if  they  were  thoroughly  natural- 
ized by  the  due  observance  of  our  American  Sabbath. 
As  wayw.^rd  children  are  restrained  to  assure 
higher  culture  and  character,  or  disorderly  citizens 
to  enforce  sobriety  and  the  general  welfare  of  society  ; 
so  foreign  as  well  as  native-born  citizens,  for  the  sake 
of  perfecting  American  manhood  and  civilization, 
should  be  restrained  from  all  desecration  or  seculari- 
zation of  the  Sabbath.  American  citizens  travelling, 
sojourning,  or  seeking  homes  in  foreign  lands  are 
expected  to  conform  to  the  usages  and  laws  of  the 
countries  giving  them  welcome.  Should  we  expect 
less  of  the  various  nationalities  now  coming  to  our 
shores  ?  We  award  to  them  immunities  of  citizenship, 
and  the  promise  of  labor,  arts,  and  professions,  but  we 
entreat  them  to  spare  our  school  system,  our  free 
Christianity,  and  our  holy  Sabbath. 

Hebrew. 

"The  milky  way,  chalked  out  with  suns;  a  clew 

That  guides  through  erring  hours  ;  and  in  full  story 
A  taste  of  heaven  on  earth  ;  the  pledge  and  cue 
Of  a  full  feast  ;  and  the  out-courts  of  glory." 

Have  not  learned  Rabbis  encouraged  theirjewish 
brethren,  when  through  circumstances  of  removal 
from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another  their  Sab- 
bath reckoning  was  lost,  to  adopt  that  of  the  commu- 
nity where  they  sought  home  and  commerce? 


266  DEFENCE   OF  THE   SABBATH. 

Should  not  such  a  precedent  lead  the  Hebrews,  now- 
scattered  among  Christian  nations,  and  denied  any 
protection  of  their  holy  day,  and  any  facilities  for  its 
proper  observance,  to  adopt  the  Sabbath  reckoning 
of  Christendom,  and  tlius  assure  the  beneficent  uses 
and  promise  of  a  day  for  rest,  worship,  and  spiritual 
discipline  ? 

Are  not  the  trials  arising  from  the  attempt  to  main- 
tain a  Sabbath  different  from  that  protected  by  law, 
and  observed  by  the  consent  of  the  people,  so  great 
as  to  be  now  weaning  the  Hebrews  in  great  commer- 
cial centres  more  and  more  from  their  traditional 
Sabbath  observance,  their  synagogue,  and  from  the 
faith  of  their  fathers  ?  Covetousness  and  materialism 
sufficiently  test  loyalty  to  the  Sabbath  without  being 
supplemented  by  difference  of  calendars  as  an  excuse 
for  its  neglect. 

Should  not  the  prophetic  order,  "Seek  the  peace  of 
the  city  whither  I  have  caused  you  to  be  can  i( d  away 
captives,  and  pray  unto  the  Lord  for  it ;  for  in  the 
peace  thereof  shall  ye  have  peace,"  persuade  you  not 
only  to  pray  for  your  fellow-citizens,  but  to  observe 
the  same  day  for  prayer  to  the  universal  Father,  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  sentiments  of  a  common 
brotherhood  ? 

Needless  differences  in  religion  widen  estrange- 
ments of  different  classes.  A  common  holy  day 
would  promote  a  common  faith,  and  the  unity  and 
sympathies  of  a  common  brotherhood. 

Would  not  your  acceptance  of  the  holy  day  of  the 
greatest   nations  and   the   ruling  races    of   the   world 


APPEAL.  267 

greatly  facilitate  your  carrying-  forward  the  imme- 
morial and  unparalleled  testimony  of  your  fatliers  to 
the  importance  of  inviolable  Sabbath  time  as  a  foun- 
dation of  religion,  morality,  and  true  civilization  ? 

By  adopting  the  sacred  time  of  Christendom,  even 
v\^ithout  changing  your  interpretations  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  your  religious  observance,  would  you 
not  assure  greater  precedence  to  the  Hebrews  in  the 
religious  history  of  the  race,  exalt  the  Hebrew  name 
by  an  international  homage  to  Joseph's  son,  the  most 
illustrious  descendant  of  your  great  progenitor,  and 
hasten  the  adoption  of  a  common  faith  and  a  common 
ritual  by  all  mankind.  A  common  Sabbath  would 
become  the  avenue  of  the  approach  of  all  the  tribes 
and  kindreds  of  the  earth  to  union  in  the  same  divine 
Lord  and  Saviour,  the  one  God  and  Father,  and  the 
one  universal  brotherhood. 

Seventh-day  Baptist. 

**  O  day  of  rest  !     How  beautiful,  how  fair, 
How  welcome  to  the  weary  and  the  old  ! 
Day  of  the  Lord,  and  truce  to  earthly  care  ! — 
Day  of  the  Lord,  as  all  our  days  should  be  !  " 

Do  you  not  agree  with  other  Christians,  that  the 
devotion  of  a  seventh  part  of  time  to  rest  and  worship 
is  the  universal  duty  of  man,  and  necessary  to  the  high- 
est political  and  social  welfare  of  mankind  ?  Will  you 
not  also  agree  with  them  that  the  first  day  may  assure 
to  any  community  all  the  privileges  of  rest,  worship, 
and  spiritual  culture  that  the  seventh  day  can  ?  Did 
not  the  Apostles  and  early  Church   fulfil  the  obliga- 


268       DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

tions  of  the  primitive  Sabbath  in  the  observance  of 
tl^e  first  day  of  the  week  ?  Is  there  not  greater  prom- 
ise of  uniting  the  world  in  tlie  observance  of  the  first 
than  of  the  seventh  day?  Would  they  not  more 
readily  join  in  the  commemoration  of  the  mission  of 
Christ  than  that  of  Moses?  Would  it  not  be  far 
easier  to  maintain  the  worthy  celebration  of  the 
teachings  and  memorials  of  the  new  dispensation  on 
the  day  of  the  Lord's  resurrection  than  to  rehabilitate 
the  seventh  day?  Would  not  any  attempt  to  trans- 
fer the  reverence  Christendom  now  cherishes  for 
the  Lord's  Day  greatly  imperil  the  sanctity  of  any 
Sabbath  ?  Have  not  your  appeals  and  examples  done 
far  more  to  discredit  the  Lord's  Day  than  to  increase 
reverence  for  the  seventh  day  ?  If  Christian  denom- 
inations were  willing  to  surrender  the  first  day  for  the 
sake  of  a  common  Sabbath,  would  Christian  states  turn 
back  the  wheels  of  history,  discredit  the  most  impor- 
tant events  and  periods  in  social  progress,  discard  their 
sacred  traditions,  and  change  their  statutes  to  favor  any 
new  ecclesiastical  decree  ?  Does  it  seem  to  you  too 
great  an  homage  to  Him  who  is  "  Lord  of  the  Sabbath" 
to  change  its  ritual,  in  order  to  exalt  His  Lordship, 
more  fully  separate  the  new  from  the  old  dispensation, 
add  new  memorial  uses  to  the  holy  day,  and  more 
surely  establish  a  common  Sabbath  for  the  world.  As 
you  rest  your  Christian  hope  on  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  will  you  not  unite  with  all 
His  disciples  in  a  weekly  celebration  of  this  august 
event,  and  the  promise  of  immortality  through  it? 
Is  it  agreeable  to  you  to  be  classed  with  Jews  and 


APPEAL.  269 

infidels  in  the  opposition  to  the  Sabbath  laws  and  ob- 
servances of  Christian  nations  ?  Can  you  not  unite 
with  other  Christian  denominations  in  one  strenuous 
effort  to  rescue  the  Christian  Sabbath  from  desecra- 
tion, and  unify  the  ritual  and  worship  of  the  world 
in  its  observance  ? 

Theist. 

"The  Sabbath  bell, 
That  over  wood  and  wild  and  mountain-dell 
Wanders  so  far,  chasing  all  thoughts  unholy 
With  sounds  most  musical,  most  melancholy." 

Is  your  theism  an  effective  principle  ?  Should  not 
a  fact  so  stupendous  as  the  existence  of  an  all-wise 
Creator  and  Ruler  of  the  universe  transfigure  with  a 
heavenly  brightness  our  deepest  thoughts,  purest 
feelings,  loftiest  aims,  and  our  holiest  aspirations  ?  Is 
it  not  more  reasonable  to  deny  a  God  than  profess 
to  believe  in  His  existence  and  majestic  sovereignty 
while  allowing  Him  no  recognized  place  in  the  uni- 
verse, no  freedom  in  the  scheme  of  Providence,  no 
homage  in  the  temple  of  His  own  works,  and  no  place 
in  the  heart  of  man?  If  there  be  a  God,  should  not 
every  man  study,  admire,  and  celebrate  His  works, 
will,  and  character,  and  find  in  them  the  ideals  of  his 
own  pursuits  and  the  prophecies  of  his  own  destiny? 
Are  you  not  interested  in  opposing  the  flood  of  ma- 
terialism and  atheism  now  ravaging  the  realm  of 
thought  and  conscience  ?  You  cannot  become  a  votary 
of  any  existing  form  of  paganism.  You  turn  away 
from  Judaism,  as  superseded  by  a  more  rational  and 
spiritual  dispensation  of    religion.     You  discard  the 


2/0        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

Koran  and  the  mosque  as  symbols  of  a  fanaticism 
the  intelligence  and  culture  of  this  age  repudiate. 
You  deny  that  historical  Christianity  presents  any 
credentials  to  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  the  con- 
science and  destiny  of  mankind.  But  can  you  not 
recognize  in  the  person  and  character  of  Christ  cre- 
dentials of  a  divine  revelation  ?  Can  you  not  credit 
the  declaration  that  "when  He  brought  His  only-be- 
gotten Son  into  the  world  He  said,  'Let  all  the  angels 
of  God  worship  Him,'  " — thus  enjoining  the  homage 
of  heavenly  hierarchies,  as  well  as  kings  and  all  peo- 
ples of  the  earth  ?  If  you  deny  any  authoritative  sign 
or  voice  in  the  advent  and  mission  of  Christ  to  in- 
spire your  faith  and  worship,  is  any  divine  revelation 
to  man  possible  ?  If  the  teachings  of  Christ  are  not 
worthy  of  confidence  all  religion  is  imposture,  and 
impiety  is  the  necessity  of  all  men.  But  if  you  with- 
hold homage  from  all  other  symbols  of  religion, 
should  you  not  keep  the  holy  day,  in  a  posture  of  ex- 
pectancy of  some  revelation  of  the  character  and  will 
of  God  and  of  the  ultimate  destiny  of  man  ?  Should 
not  the  venerable  antiquity  of  the  Sabbath,  the  catho- 
licity of  its  provisions,  and  the  splendor  of  its  prom- 
ises attract  all  mankind,  of  whatever  creed,  unless 
they  are  confirmed  atheists,  to  its  sacred  observance  ? 
Would  not  the  recognition  of  this  minimum  symbol 
of  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  "the  brotherhood  and 
spiritual  destiny  of  man  conciliate  the  unity,  peace, 
and  common  faith  of  the  world  ?  Is  not  the  Sabbath 
the  provision  all  faiths  alike  require  for  the  defence 
of  their  doctrines,  the  enforcement  of  their  discipline, 


APPEAL.  271 

and  the  celebration  of  their  worship  ?  Is  it  not  the 
minimum  of  observance  necessary  to  vitalize  and  ren- 
der effective  any  doctrine  of  God  or  any  theory  of 
the  duties  and  destiny  of  men  ?  Should  not  every 
deist  therefore  become  a  rigid  Sabbatarian,  and 
found  Sabbath-schools  and  Sabbath  assemblies  for 
the  propagation  of  his  sublime  faith  and  the  encour- 
agement of  corresponding  duties  and  hopes  of  men? 
A  common  day  of  religion  is  manifestly  the  first 
possible  step  toward  a  common  faith  and  ritual  of 
religion.  True  worshippers  of  all  creeds  could  there- 
fore, without  sacrificing  anything  but  their  bigotry, 
unite  in  the  same  day  for  the  study  and  observance 
of  their  faith,  and  the  cultivation  of  the  fellowship, 
sentiments,  and  duties  of  human  brotherhood.  The 
same  day  for  rest,  worship,  and  moral  culture  would 
gradually  assimilate  the  interpretations,  observances, 
and  promises  of  religion. 

Philanthropist. 

"  Six  days  of  toil,  poor  child  of  Cain, 

Thy  strength  thy  master's  slave  must  be  ; 
The  seventh  thy  limbs  escape  the  chain  : 
A  God  hath  made  thee  free." 

Has  secularization  of  the  Sabbath  anywhere  ameli- 
orated the  condition  of  the  poor  ?  Has  it  not  every- 
where confirmed  the  tendencies  and  circumstances 
which  degrade  them  ?  Does  it  not  tacitly  surrender 
their  right  to  needed  recreation  on  week-days,  and 
thus  make  surer  their  subjection  to  capital  ?  Is  it  not, 
in  respect  to  their  highest  improvement,  like  surren- 


272        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

dering  some  of  the  hours  dedicated  to  the  discipline 
of  the  school-room  to  the  diversions  of  the  play- 
ground, thus  abridging  their  lessons,  and  devoting 
their  lives  more  surely  to  the  frivolity  of  ignorance 
and  vice  ?  Retaining  the  Sabbath  exclusively  for  rest 
worship,  and  high  culture,  could  they  not  all  the  more 
surely  gain  suitable  opportunity  for  lower  recreation 
out  of  the  working  time  of  the  week  ?  Against  closing 
stores  and  offices  Saturday  afternoons  is  plausibly 
plead  the  growing  freedom  of  the  Sabbath.  Those 
who  use  the  Sabbath  for  recreation  and  amusement 
surely  have  no  need  of  a  Saturday  holiday.  When 
the  band  of  music  began  to  attract  crowds  of  pleas- 
ure-seekers to  Central  Park,  New  York,  on  the  Sab- 
bath its  strains  were  no  longer  heard  on  Saturday, 
and  the  movement  to  secure  a  half-holiday  for  the 
employes  of  stores  and  shops  was  discouraged. 
The  promise  of  Saturday's  freedoma  was  lost  by  the 
secularization  of  the  Sabbath.  And  when  the  Sab- 
bath has  lost  its  sanctity  it  is  reannexed  to  the  do- 
main of  toil,  and  the  laborer  is  enslaved  by  monop- 
oly. Are  not  toilers  in  Europe,  where  the  Sabbath 
is  not  held  as  a  divine  right,  and  held  exclusively  for 
rest,  worship,  and  spiritual  culture,  now  working 
seven  days  for  the  wages  of  six,  and  uncheered  by  any 
full  Sabbath  benediction  upon  their  homes  ?  Is  not  a 
secularized  Sabbath  the  card  monopoly  is  playing- 
most  effectually  against  the  wages,  freedom,  and  man- 
hood of  the  poor?  Does  it  not  profanely  assume  fo 
free  them  from  God's  law, — the  charter  of  their  no- 
bility,— to  reconcile  them  to  a  more  abject  bondage  ? 


APPEAL.  273 

Is  it  true  philanthropy  to  allow  such  imposture  to  be 
practised  on  the  poor  without  protest,  while  pro- 
viding for  their  recreation  only  as  one  would  for  a 
tired  ox?  Can  any  mere  animal  recuperation  or  in- 
tellectual stimulus,  without  the  moral  discipline  pro- 
vided for  by  the  Sabbath,  contribute  much  to  the 
elevation  of  mankind  ?  Do  not  the  thoughtfulness, 
high  resolves,  charitable  feelings,  devout  sentiments, 
holy  joys,  and  ennobling  aspirations  inspired  by  the 
sacred  uses  of  the  Sabbath  assure  to  the  poor  at  once 
physical  recuperation,  intellectual  culture,  and  moral 
regeneration  ?  Do  not  laborers  hallowing  the  Sab- 
bath always  rise  in  physical  health,  mental  discipline, 
and  moral  character  above  toilers  who  desecrate  the 
Sabbath  ?  Did  not  the  Book  of  Sports,  though  affect- 
ing special  sympathy  for  the  poor,  by  apportioning 
the  Sabbath  between  worship  and  secular  amuse- 
ment, degrade  the  English  peasantry,  and  make  them 
the  ready  instruments  of  despotism  ? 

Christian . 

"Enthroned  in  thy  sovereign  sphere, 
Thou  shedd'st  thy  light  on  all  the  year  ; 
Sundays  by  thee  more  glorious  break — 
An  Easter-day  in  every  week." 

Though  made  guardian  of  the  Sabbath  by  cove- 
nant with  its  Lord,  are  you  not,  through  lack  of  vigi- 
lance, betraying  your  sacred  trust  ?  Because  Christ 
graciously  revoked  Sabbath  penalties,  varied  Sabbath 
ritual,  and  confided  Sabbath  keeping  to  your  con- 
science and  honor,  have  you  not  abused  your  Chris- 
18 


274  DKFKNCE   OK   THE    SAHHATH. 

tian  liberty,  and  fallen  into  an  irregular  and  mere  par- 
tial observance  of  the  holy  day  ?  Pious  Hebrews,  to 
assure  its  sanctity,  interrupted  their  usual  industries 
and  amusements  the  evening  before  the  dawn  of  the 
sacred  morning  ;  but  Christian  communities  often  pro- 
long the  labors  and  pleasures  of  the  week  far  into 
Saturday  night,  thereby  abridging  the  services  and 
discipline  of  the  Sabbath.  More  and  more  they  are 
lengthening  their  "  Sabbath-day's  journey,"  widening 
the  margin  of  Sabbath  reading,  recreation,  and  travel, 
and  multiplying  works  of  supposed  ^'  necessity  and 
mercy."  Continuing  in  this  trend,  how  long  will  it 
be  before  the  American  Church  will  exchange  its 
holy  day  for  the  European  holiday  ?  Unless  she  hold 
the  Lord's  Day  more  scrupulously,  the  world  will  not 
keep  it  at  all.  When  magistrates  despise  laws,  the 
people  will  not  obey  them.  When  priests  desecrate 
the  temple,  worshippers  will  abandon  it. 

American  communities  are  falling  into  Sabbath 
desecration  as  the  American  Church  becomes  slack 
in  Sabbath  observance.  Baker,  barber,  milkman, 
confectioner,  railroad  conductor,  and  steamboat  cap- 
tain all  bear  witness  that  the  church-membership  of 
the  country  contribute  largely  to  the  enforcement  of 
their  Sabbath  industries.  Christian  disciple,  will  you 
not  carefully  revise  your  list  of  works  of  "  necessity 
and  mercy,"  and  on  each  Sabbath,  turning  away  from 
labor  and  travel,  devote  the  hours  to  rest,  religious 
reading  and  discourse,  to  works  and  visitations  of 
charity,  and  to  the  homage  and  jubilance  of  public 
worship? 


APPEAL.  275 

Is  not  the  Christian  Church  strangely  overlooking 
the  prominence  of  the  Sabbath  in  its  great  scheme  of 
evangelization  and  salvation  ?  Must  not  the  millen- 
nium dawn  through  the  moral  brightness  of  an  im- 
proved Sabbath  observance  ? 

Before  that  golden  age  is  ushered  in,  divine  knowl- 
edge will  increase  till  "  all  shall  know  the  Lord,  from 
the  least  even  unto  the  greatest."  But  only  as  Sab- 
baths are  devoted  to  the  study  and  dissemination  of 
that  higher  knowledge  can  its  radiance  dissipate  the 
gloom  of  spiritual  ignorance. 

Before  the  reign  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth 
greater  civil  liberty  must  be  enjoyed.  But  Sabbath 
jubilance  in  the  personal  liberty  and  spiritual  en- 
franchisement assured  by  Christ  to  His  Church  is  the 
pledge  and  heraldry  of  free  institutions. 

As  a  forerunner  to  the  peaceful  reign  of  Messiah, 
moral  reforms  must  be  consummated.  But  the  teach- 
ing of  righteousness  in  Sabbath  homes  and  in  Sab- 
bath congregations  is  the  effective  rebuke  of  bad  cus- 
toms, laws,  and  institutions,  and  the  bugle-note  of  all 
social,  political,  and  moral  progress. 

A  reign  of  resplendent  charities  must  usher  in  the 
triumph  of  grace  and  good-will  to  all  mankind.  But 
nothing  is  so  mitigating  the  discontents,  envies,  and 
hatreds  of  society,  and  blending  the  hearts  of  all 
classes  in  fraternal  sympathies,  as  the  memorial  teach- 
ing and  worship  of  the  holy  Sabbath. 

The  restoration  of  the  race  through  the  mediation 
and  mercy  of  Christ  is  announced  as  the  sublime  pur- 
pose in  the  creation  of  man  free,  and  amenable  to  his 


276  DEFENCE   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

Creator.  The  Sabbath  is  a  perpetual  memorial  and 
celebration  of  the  infinite  love  of  God  toward  a  lost 
race,  and  the  "glad  tidings"  of  forgiveness  of  sin, 
and  complete  restoration  to  the  divine  favor.  With- 
out assurance  of  happy  immortality,  life  sinks  to  in- 
significance. Man  cowers  before  death  as  his  mortal 
enemy,  before  the  Christian  Sabbath  celebrates  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  and  the 
promise  of  the  joyful  resurrection  of  all  who  believe 
in  Him.  It  commemorates  the  triumph  of  Apostles 
and  martyrs  over  the  last  enemy,  and  cheers  the  most 
timid  believer  with  the  promise  of  a  similar  triumph. 

O  Sabbath  of  God,  fraught  with  such  beneficent 
ministries,  and  such  blessed  promises  !  Before  the 
rule  of  patriarch  or  king  thou  wast  the  symbol  of 
divine  sovereignty.  Rise  over  the  earth  in  thy  impe- 
rial majesty,  till  all  nations  shall  reverence  thee,  and 
in  reverencing  thee  celebrate  the  Fatherhood  of  God 
and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  Through  the  door  of  thy 
sacred  observance,  tribe  after  tribe,  and  race  after  race, 
abjuring  false  faith,  shall  enter  the  fraternity  of  Chris- 
tian nations.  They  will  avow  the  Christian  faith  by 
adopting  the  Christian  Sabbath.  Keeping  the  "  Lord's 
Day,"  they  worship  its  Founder.  The  Sabbath  should 
be  restored  as  the  basis  of  all  schemes  of  philan- 
thropy, all  heraldry  of  liberty,  all  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge, all  ministries  of  mercy,  all  hopes  of  salvation 
and  everlasting  life. 

The  Sabbath  provides  for  the  emancipation  of  true 
freedom,  the  pursuit  of  true  education,  carrying  for- 
ward true  reforms,  the  administration  of  true  charities, 


APPEAL.  277 

and  the  propagation  of  true  faith.  In  exaltation  to 
its  ideal  rest  with  God,  peace  with  men,  and  holy 
aspiration  and  pursuit,  the  Sabbath  assures  the  moral 
restoration,  perfected  character,  and  happiness  of  all 
mankind.  The  restored  Sabbath  should  become  the 
upUfted  banner  of  all  Christian  reforms,  evangelisms, 
and  missions. 

The  poet  has  made  the  tones  of  a  bell  the  ringing 
appeal  for  social  progress.  We  would  make  Sabbath- 
bells  the  most  effective  and  assuring  voice  of  Heaven 
to  the  ignorant,  sinning,  sorrowing,  and  perishing  sons 
of  earth.  If  the  great  bell  of  Moscow,  rung  out  from 
the  north,  and  all  cathedral-bells  of  Europe,  joined 
in  sacred  chime,  and  the  myriads  of  church-bells  of 
Christendom  united  in  the  sacred  concert,  it  would 
be  but  a  feeble  symbol  of  the  silent,  persuasive, 
harmonizing,  and  elevating  voices  going  forth  from 
the  Sabbath  over  the  awakened,  needy,  and  expectant 
world. 

In  concert  of  all  nations  and  myriads  of  Sabbath 
assemblies,  let  the  Sabbath-bell  sounding  over  Scot- 
tish heath,  through  New  England  valleys,  over  west- 
tern  prairies,  amid  jungles  of  India,  over  steppes 
of  Asia,  deserts  of  Africa,  and  along  savannahs  of 
South  America  sound  forth  its  peal  of  gladness  and 
its  jubilance  of  divine  promise.  In  this  apprehension 
of  the  symbolism  and  promise  of  the  Sabbath  let 
patriotism,  philanthropy,  and  piety  unite  in  an  appeal 
to  the  Sabbath,  in  the  ringing  words  of  the  poet : 


278        DEFENCE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

"  Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new  ; 
Ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the  true  ; 
Ring  out  the  grief  that  saps  the  mind. 
Ring  in  redress  to  all  mankind. 

Ring  out  a  slowly  dying  cause. 
And  ancient  forms  of  party  strife  ; 
Ring  in  the  nobler  modes  of  life, 
With  sweeter  manners,  purer  laws. 

Ring  out  old  shapes  of  foul  disease  ; 
Ring  out  the  narrowing  lust  of  gold  ; 
Ring  out  the  thousand  wars  of  old 
Ring  in  the  thousand  years  of  peace. 

Ring  out  the  want,  the  woe,  the  crime, 
The  wrong  and  falsehood  of  the  time, 
The  chains  that  hang  on  limb  and  mind  ; 
Ring  in  redress  to  all  mankind. 

Ring  out  the  waning  power  of  night, 
Ring  in  the  coming  reign  of  light ; 
Ring  in  the  world's  long  jubilee  ; 
Ring  in  the  Christ  that  is  to  be." 


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